By Hooyeon Kim SEOUL (Reuters) – Weightlifting champion Kim Byeong-chan died alone, paralyzed and penniless after a motorcycle accident cut short his career, and for some former athletes his demise is a consequence of South Korea’s ruthless pursuit of sporting excellence. The limited social safety net for athletes who get seriously injured, or who fail to make the grade, is a concern for many sportsmen and women in South Korea, a country which arrived on the global stage with the hosting of the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Park Chung-hee’s regime of the 1960s saw sport as an avenue to raise Korea’s global profile and gain legitimacy at home, and poured huge amounts of money into creating an elite athlete program as well as bidding to host international competitions.