Korean sports legends Kim Yeon-kyung, Park In-bee, Jin Jong-oh, Lee Dae-hoon, and Kim So-young have entered the race for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Korean Athletes’ Commissioner position. The candidates are ambitious.
The six candidates – volleyball’s Kim Yeon-kyung, golf’s Park In-bee, shooting’s Jin Jong-oh, taekwondo’s Lee Dae-hoon, badminton’s Kim So-young, and archery’s Oh Jin-hyuk – submitted their applications over the past four days. This is twice as many as the three candidates (Yoo Seung-min, Jang Mi-ran and Jin Jong-oh) who were selected in 2015.
One of the candidates, Oh Jin-hyuk, did not attend the interview and was abstained. He is currently participating in a training camp in Paris, France, in preparation for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.
The Korean Archery Association said, “When I applied for the candidacy, I was not given an exact interview schedule,” adding, “The interview date was on the 10th, so I informed the Korean Sports Federation on the 7th that I would not be able to attend. We inquired about other options, but they were not accepted.”
After verifying the documents, the KOC will conduct an evaluation by the Evaluation Committee and the Senate and select one final candidate on the first of next month. The finalist will represent South Korea in the IOC Athlete Commission election.
The Senate, which was established in November last year, consists of nine members. It is chaired by former KOC president Kim Jung-gil and consists of Park Yong-sung, Kim Jeong-haeng, Lee Kang-doo and Seo Sang-ki, former president of the National Sports Council, Jang Chung-sik, former vice president of the Korean Olympic Committee, Yoon Se-young, former head of the Korea Golf Association, Kwon Yun-bang, professor emeritus of physical education at Seoul National University, and Cheon Shin-il, chairman of Sejong.
A total of four IOC Athletes will be elected during next year’s Paris Olympics by voting on candidates nominated by their respective National Olympic Committees (NOCs). There have been two Korean IOC Athletes. They are taekwondo’s Moon Dae-sung, who was first elected at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, who was elected at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
On Tuesday, the KOC held an evaluation committee at the Olympic Parktel in Seoul to review the candidates for the IOC Athlete Commission. The five candidates who attended the evaluation committee had a closed-door interview to assess their foreign language skills.
Prior to the interview, the five candidates were interviewed by reporters and expressed their determination.
South Korean women’s volleyball superstar Kim Yeon-kyung said, “I’m very nervous. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this nervous even though I’ve played many competitions,” she said, adding, “I’ve prepared a lot and studied hard, so I’ll be able to talk well in the interview.”
“I’ve always vaguely dreamed of becoming a sports administrator or a diplomat,” she said, adding, “When I was approaching retirement, I thought about what I could do for the development of sports and decided to run for the IOC Athletes’ Commission.”
Inbee Park is a golf queen who created the “golden slam” of winning all four major championships and an Olympic gold medal.
“I’ve dreamed of being an IOC member for a long time,” Park said. I competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics to fulfill my dream,” Park said, “I prepared hard for a long time. “I could have told many people through the media, but like a ‘silent assassin’ (nickname), I prepared quietly. There was a lot of material to study, and I spent a lot of time preparing,” he said.
“I want to contribute a lot to the development of sports in Korea. I was very moved by the Olympism (Olympic spirit) and was able to win an Olympic gold medal in Rio 2016. I want to promote Olympism around the world, and I want to play a leading role,” he said.카지노
Jin Jong-oh, who has six Olympic medals (four gold, two silver), said, “I’m excited to be interviewed to represent Korea. I feel a different kind of nervousness than during the Olympics.”
This is Jin Jong-oh’s second run. He ran for IOC Athletes’ Commissioner in 2015, but lost out to Yoo Seung-min, the current IOC Athletes’ Commissioner. “I had one experience, and I used that experience to prepare harder this time,” he said.
“I played for the Korean national team for almost 20 years. Those years are half of my life. I decided to take on the challenge because I want to dream of representing Korean athletes more than being an athlete.”
Taekwondo star Lee Dae-hoon has won two Olympic medals: silver at London 2012 and bronze at Rio 2016.
“I was able to study in many ways while preparing for the IOC Athletes’ Commission, and I worked hard to prepare as best I could. I want to speak confidently about my ambitions in the interview without regrets,” he said.
He also revealed his nervousness. He said, “I’m nervous like I’m running a race. It’s my first official interview, so I’m very nervous, but I’m doing image training like I do when I work out. I prepared well to be as relaxed as possible,” he said.
When asked why he decided to run, he said, “I have an opportunity that not everyone has. If I become an IOC Athlete Commissioner, I will be able to develop taekwondo, the national sport of Korea, and I want to help develop Korean sports.” “I thought I could do a good job, so I applied,” he said.
Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist Kim So-young said, “It’s a great honor to compete with such a strong field of candidates. “I’m very nervous,” she said, “I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I applied late because I was competing in an international competition. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but I applied late because I was competing in an international competition.”