Park Tae-hwan's Only Olympic Medal

Park Tae-hwan's Only Olympic Medal... Korean Swimming’s ‘Golden Generation’ Continues

Hwang Sun-woo, who collected 'World Swimming Gold, Silver, and Bronze', overcomes Tokyo regrets in Paris

Kim Woo-min, who has grown rapidly as 'Park Tae-hwan's successor', is a strong medal candidate at the Paris Olympics and is challenging for an Olympic relay medal in the men's 800m relay, which even Park Tae-hwan could not do

The Korean management team achieved its best ever performance with two gold medals and one silver medal at the World Aquatics Championships held in Doha, Qatar.

The men's 200m freestyle, in which Hwang Seon-woo (20, Gangwon Provincial Office) won the gold medal, the men's 400m freestyle in which Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) won a surprise victory, and the 800m freestyle relay in which Kim Woo-min (22, Gangwon Provincial Office) won a silver medal, are all Korean swimmers who won medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

It is a strategic item to aim for. 파워볼

Korea achieved valuable results at the Doha World Aquatics Championships, a prelude to the Olympic Games held about five months before the event.

Korean swimming has won four medals at previous Summer Olympics.

These are all the results of one genius named Park Tae-hwan (34).

The men's 400m freestyle gold medal and 200m freestyle silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the 400m and 200m freestyle silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics are all works of Park Tae-hwan.

Korean swimming star Hwang Seon-woo won the gold medal in the 200m freestyle at the long-course (50m) World Championships at the Doha Games, something even Park Tae-hwan had never done before.

On the 14th, Hwang Sun-woo won the long-awaited gold medal in the men's 200m freestyle final with a time of 1 minute 44.75 seconds.

It was the third consecutive medal at the World Championships and a golden achievement that completed the collection of ‘gold, silver, and bronze medals.’

Hwang Sun-woo, who now only has an 'Olympic medal' left on his resume, hung the gold medal at the World Championships and expressed confidence, saying, "The Olympics are now five months away.

A good foundation for an Olympic medal has been laid."

The upcoming Paris Olympics will be Hwang Sun-woo's second Olympics.

Sunwoo Hwang, who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 at the age of 18, set a new Korean record with 47.97 seconds in the men's 100m freestyle preliminaries and advanced to the semifinals in 6th place overall.

In the semifinals, he shortened his time to 47.56 seconds, setting a new Asian record and won a ticket to the finals in 4th place.

However, because I was not yet good at controlling my strength, I finished in 47.82 seconds in the finals and placed 5th, but did not receive a medal.

In the 200m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, which has now become a major event, he set a new Korean record and a new world junior record with a time of 1 minute 44.62 seconds in the preliminaries, advancing to the semifinals as first place overall.

However, he touched down in 1 minute 45.53 seconds (6th place) in the semifinals and 1 minute 45.26 seconds (7th place) in the final.

The disappointment was even greater because he could have won a bronze medal if he had brought his preliminary record to the finals.

Sunwoo Hwang, who has since added gold, silver, and bronze records at the World Championships and has become the world's top 200m freestyle swimmer, hopes to become the first Korean swimmer to stand on the podium in 12 years since Park Tae-hwan at the 2012 London Olympics.

Kim Woo-min proved that he is the true successor to Park Tae-hwan through the Doha World Championships.

Kim Woo-min, who was a mid-to-long distance specialist, was not able to stand out until 2021.

He participated in the Tokyo Olympics as a member of the 800m relay, but was eliminated in the preliminaries and did not participate in the individual event.

He won the 2022 national team selection competition with a time of 3 minutes 48.26 seconds and qualified for the Budapest World Championships, and has shown rapid growth since then.

In the men's 400m freestyle at the Budapest Games, he shortened the record to 3 minutes 45.64 seconds and placed 6th overall, and at last year's Fukuoka Games, he shortened the record again to 3 minutes 43.92 seconds and placed 5th.

Before leaving for training in Australia this year, his goal was to break into the 3:42 second mark, and he kept his promise.

He won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle at the Doha World Championships held on the 12th, setting a personal best record of 3 minutes 42.71 seconds.

Since he won the gold medal before Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min took the title of 'the first gold medal for a Korean athlete at the World Championships since Park Tae-hwan (400m freestyle) at the 2011 Shanghai Games.'

The ‘tips’ of Park Tae-hwan, whom he considered his idol, are now beginning to show.

Kim Woo-min entered the Doha competition as soon as he returned from training in Australia and wrote a new history in Korean swimming despite not being able to properly taper (the process of relieving fatigue and conserving strength in time for competition day) after completing intense training.

In order for Kim Woo-min to truly be on par with Park Tae-hwan, he still needs to reduce the time by 'more than one second'.

The Korean record (3 minutes 41.53 seconds) set by Park Tae-hwan at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games became Kim Woo-min's new goal.

Simply looking at the possibility of winning an Olympic medal, Kim Woo-min is very close to the podium.

At the Doha World Championships, where many world-class athletes were absent, most medal-worthy athletes participated in the 400m freestyle event.

If Kim Woo-min's 3 minutes, 42.71 seconds left in this competition were applied to the Tokyo Olympics, he would easily win a gold medal.

However, considering that Samuel Short (Australia), who won the gold medal at the Fukuoka Games with a time of 3 minutes 40.68 seconds, did not participate in this competition, it is expected that there will be a close match with Kim Woo-min in Paris.

Gye-young, the man who opened the golden age of Korean swimming, is challenging for his first team medal, something that not even Park Tae-hwan has ever achieved.

The Korean men's 800m relay team, consisting of Hwang Sun-woo, Kim Woo-min, Lee Ho-jun (22, Jeju City Hall), Yang Jae-hoon (25, Gangwon Provincial Office), and Lee Yu-yeon (23, Goyang City Hall), won a silver medal in Doha with a time of 7 minutes 01.94 seconds. did.

It is only 0.10 seconds behind first place China (7 minutes 01.84 seconds).

Swimming media outlet Swimswam chose the Korean men's 800m relay team's bronze medal at the Paris Olympics as its 'bold prediction for 2024'.

It is too early to be optimistic about the results of the Paris Olympics just because the ‘silver wave’ was reached in Doha.

Australia, a freestyle powerhouse, did not participate in this competition, and England and the United States entered the competition with second-level athletes.

However, considering the solidarity and upward trend of the Korean national team, getting on the podium at the Paris Olympics, which is five months away, is not just a dream.

The Korean national team also underwent intensive training in Australia in February of this year.

The intensity of training was so high that Hwang Sun-woo said, "It was the most difficult two weeks of my swimming life," but the athletes who successfully completed the rigorous program gained confidence.

The Korean national team's goal is to enter the 6th squad.

At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, only Great Britain (6:58.58), which won the gold medal, entered the 6th minute, while the Russian Olympic Committee (7:01.81) and Australia (7:01.84) took silver and bronze medals.

It was 7 minutes and 1 second.

The world record in this category, 6 minutes 58.55 seconds (2009 Rome World Championships) by the United States, is also close to 7 minutes.

At last year's Fukuoka World Championships, where all the world's top athletes participated, the only country to enter the 6th minute was Great Britain (6 minutes 59.08 seconds).

You can get a glimpse of the confidence of the Korean national team, which set the goal of 'entering the 6th squad'.

Our opponents in the Olympics include the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, which are the relay powerhouses, as well as China, which has recently been gaining ground at an alarming rate. 메이저사이트

If the Korean national team makes it to the top six at the Paris Olympics, it will be worth aiming for not only a medal but also the top of the podium.