(Reuters) - Picking up medals on the fast ice of the Gangneung Oval at the Winter Olympics could be a tall order for South Korea’s speed skaters, according to Dutchman Bob de Jong, who is assistant coach of the hosts’ national team.

FILE PHOTO: Bob de Jong of the Netherlands reacts after the men's 5000m event at the ISU World Cup speed skating competition in Heerenveen, the Netherlands December 13, 2014. REUTERS/Michael Kooren/File Photo

A long-distance specialist with four Olympic medals including gold in the 10,000m in Turin in 2006, De Jong arrived in the country last May to help train their skaters.

The Koreans are better known for their prowess in short track, but the Dutchman is bringing his vast experience to bear on honing their technique over the longer distances.

South Korea sprang a surprise when they won five medals on the long track in Vancouver, with the country finishing with 14 medals in total in 2010, their best haul at a Winter Games.

The hosts are targeting a total of 20 medals at next month’s Games, but De Jong is just focusing on getting the best out of his skaters.

“They’ve got a longer short track history,” he told Reuters from Seoul. “Four years ago (in Sochi) they got two medals (on the long track) so it was not that good, and even in the coming Olympics it’ll be really hard to get medals.

“I know the international level, it’s higher. I don’t want to talk about a target of how many medals we can take. First focus on good skating, even I did that in my own career.”

Most of the skaters De Jong is working with have converted from short track and the seven-times world champion explained how they have had to unlearn years of training in a different technique to prepare for the longer runs.

“I’m not a transfer coach. They’re already long track skaters,” he said. “But you can see on the long track they have the background of short track skaters.

“The most important part is using your bodyweight in the straights and that’s kind of new for the short track skaters because they are not (used to) skating straights.”

LANGUAGE BARRIER

De Jong is also teaching the Koreans how to conserve energy while cornering.

“In the short track, the corners are four steps and you really slow down in rhythm, but for long track you need a higher rhythm,” he said.

“They’re so comfortable with the low rhythm in the corners, but if you do that in the long track, your legs will be blowing up.”

De Jong said Olympic records could fall in Gangneung and is pushing his skaters to get as close to those times as possible to give them their best shot at a medal.

“A couple of skaters, they are really close (to the Olympic records),” he said. “Lee Seung-hoon is absolutely one of the biggest skaters here in Korea and he’s in good shape to make a good performance.”

Lee, who took gold in the 10,000m at the Vancouver Games ahead of Ivan Skobrev and De Jong himself, could race in the mass start, 1,500m, 5,000m, 10,000m, and team pursuit.

“The team pursuit with the three skaters are getting really good times,” De Jong said. “One of the men’s teams was really close to breaking the world record this year already.”

Lee Sang-Hwa and Kim Min-sun are carrying the country’s medal hopes in the women’s 500m, while Kim Bo-reum could challenge in the mass start and 1,500m.

Language is biggest barrier De Jong has faced in South Korea and while he is loving his time in the country, the 41-year-old is also having to adapt to the culture.

“For me the language is really hard,” he said. “I’ve got my translator in the team, the video analyst is also translating a lot of things for me, but the biggest thing is body language.

“I think to explain the technique it’s quite easy to do it by body language.

“It’s such a big difference in culture. In Korea they have a lot of respect. Sometimes the skaters have to tell me more information about how they feel, what they think about the training, but in their culture it’s not normal to tell.

“It’s not about good or bad. It’s a culture thing. I don’t want to change it and I can’t. It’s impossible to change a culture.”