TexasHSFootball
02-20-2006, 12:31 PM
Korean says he is skier's dad
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man says he is the biological father of American Toby Dawson, who took bronze in the men's freestyle skiing moguls at the Turin Winter Olympics, South Korean media reported on Monday.
Kim Jae-su, 52, said Dawson bears a strong resemblance to his son, Bong-suk, who went missing in 1981 in a busy market street in the South Korean port city of Pusan, Yonhap News said.
"(Dawson) just looks like him," Kim told local broadcaster YTN. "I could tell right away when I saw his pictures."
South Korea-born Dawson shot to prominence after winning his medal last week and almost all papers carried stories that the adopted U.S. skier was searching for his biological parents.
Dawson is set to hold a news conference in Italy on Tuesday to discuss the issue. He was adopted at the age of three by a pair of ski instructors in Colorado after being found in Pusan.
After claiming his bronze medal last Wednesday, Dawson reluctantly talked about his situation.
"I have had the question come up a lot at the Olympics. The only problem is I have had people (falsely) claiming to be my birth parents. I am taking this process very slow," he said.
A U.S. Olympic team spokeswoman on Monday said that none of the claims of parentage have been confirmed.
YTN showed pictures of Kim and his other son next to Dawson's images to show the resemblance of the three, but added that DNA tests could tell the truth.
Papers said Dawson will come to South Korea next month to compete.
(additional reporting by Mark Meadows in Sauze D'Oulx, Italy)
SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean man says he is the biological father of American Toby Dawson, who took bronze in the men's freestyle skiing moguls at the Turin Winter Olympics, South Korean media reported on Monday.
Kim Jae-su, 52, said Dawson bears a strong resemblance to his son, Bong-suk, who went missing in 1981 in a busy market street in the South Korean port city of Pusan, Yonhap News said.
"(Dawson) just looks like him," Kim told local broadcaster YTN. "I could tell right away when I saw his pictures."
South Korea-born Dawson shot to prominence after winning his medal last week and almost all papers carried stories that the adopted U.S. skier was searching for his biological parents.
Dawson is set to hold a news conference in Italy on Tuesday to discuss the issue. He was adopted at the age of three by a pair of ski instructors in Colorado after being found in Pusan.
After claiming his bronze medal last Wednesday, Dawson reluctantly talked about his situation.
"I have had the question come up a lot at the Olympics. The only problem is I have had people (falsely) claiming to be my birth parents. I am taking this process very slow," he said.
A U.S. Olympic team spokeswoman on Monday said that none of the claims of parentage have been confirmed.
YTN showed pictures of Kim and his other son next to Dawson's images to show the resemblance of the three, but added that DNA tests could tell the truth.
Papers said Dawson will come to South Korea next month to compete.
(additional reporting by Mark Meadows in Sauze D'Oulx, Italy)