Warm Words from Senior Kwak Yoon-Ki, “It’s Okay to Make Mistakes”
Former national short track team member Kwak Yoon-ki (34),
who is active in various fields such as ice rinks, YouTube, and broadcasting,
raised his voice and cheered for juniors participating in the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics (Gangwon 2024). 온라인카지노
Kwak Yoon-ki
Kwak Yoon-ki met with reporters at the Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangwon-do,
where the Gangwon 2024 short track competition was held on the 21st, and said,
“I am proud, sad, and proud to see young athletes running under pressure.
I hope they will enjoy the game rather than compete” He said.
As a senior member of the national team, he also comforted Jeong Jae-hee (15, Hangang Middle School),
who failed to win a medal in the women’s 1,500m final the day before due to a strategic mistake.
Jeong Jae-hee was unable to keep up with China’s Yang Jing-ru,
who sprinted at full speed at the beginning of the race and ran one lap first,
and was caught up in this strategy and was pushed down to 7th place.
Kwak Yoon-ki said, “It is rare for such a strategy to occur in domestic or junior competitions,” and added, “Jung Jae-hee was probably heartbroken and blamed herself
”He continued, “Actually, no athlete is good from the beginning.
Olympics
I hope that this competition will be used as nourishment for them to grow well,” and encouraged them, “It is okay to make mistakes.
The Youth Olympics is a competition created for that purpose.”
In fact, Kwak Yoon-ki also had a disappointing experience at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
He participated in the men’s 5,000m relay at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics held at the same venue six years ago,
but failed to win a medal as teammate Lim Hyo-jun (Chinese name Lin Xiaojun) fell in the final.
For Kwak Yoon-ki, Gangneung Ice Arena is a place filled with pain rather than memories.
He laughed and said, “Honestly, I didn’t want to come,” and then added, “It’s a place that brings a lot of pain to me.”
He continued, “But since it is a competition held in our country,
I wanted to give strength to the young players,” and added, “I gathered my courage and came to support them.”
Kwak Yoon-gi visited the competition site in a special capacity.