Like many ‘filial sports’ that bring ‘golden glory’ to Korean athletes at international competitions, fencing, with the full support of the Korean Fencing Association, is preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics and has won multiple gold medals in 12 years.
Korean fencing won its second gold medal of the Games after Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), Koo Bon-gil (Korea Sports Promotion Agency), Park Sang-won (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall), and Do Kyung-dong (Armed Forces Athletic Corps) shared the gold medal in the men’s sabre team event at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, on Monday (June 1).
It has been 12 years since South Korean fencing has won two gold medals at a single Olympics since London 2012 (gold2-silver1-bronze3).
In the intervening years, South Korea has continued its dominance in Olympic fencing with a gold and bronze medal at Rio de Janeiro 2016 and one gold, one silver, and three bronze medals at Tokyo 2020 in 2021.
Since the London Olympics, Korea has been able to make a leap from being a European and Western sport to a ‘powerhouse’ in fencing, thanks to the steady support of the federation, which has helped the country achieve great results on the international stage, including the Olympic Games, Asian Games and World Championships.
The Korea Fencing Association has been chaired by SK Telecom since 2003.
The cumulative amount of support is said to have reached 30 billion won, and the organization organizes one to two international grand prix tournaments a year to help athletes gain world-class experience at home.
Currently, former SK networks Chairman Choi Tae-won, who is also the cousin of SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won, is the head of the fencing association. Choi has led the federation for more than six years, starting in March 2018.
After the Tokyo Olympics, the federation overhauled the competition and immediately began preparing for the Paris Olympics three years later.
The budget has been gradually increased from 1.9 billion won in 2022 to more than 2.3 billion won last year and 2.5 billion won this year, further bolstering preparations for the Games in France, the “home” of fencing.
In particular, the Tokyo Games were held in 2021, making it more difficult than ever for the national team to prepare for the Games due to the shorter cycle than other Olympics and the overlap of generational changes, but the federation provided support in various areas, including increasing staff such as medical and physical trainers and power analysts, and expanding psychological counseling.
The federation also invited domestic unemployment teams and university athletes to train with them, and provided assistant coaches for each sport to improve their skills.
The number and duration of dispatches to various international competitions, including the FIE World Cup and the International Grand Prix, were also increased to help athletes gain more experience and improve their performance.
“We have tried to provide world-class support for athletes in all areas of their needs,” said an association official, explaining that ”we have upgraded everything to provide systematic and specialized support and operations.”
In particular, the athletes said it was helpful to have a mock Olympic stadium at the Jincheon National Athletes’ Village for ‘rehearsals’ following the Tokyo Games.
A total of 50 million won was invested in the basketball court at the Jincheon Athletes’ Village to install the main piste for the finals and four pistes for general competitions in accordance with Olympic stadium standards, and since June, the athletes have been holding ‘virtual Olympics’.
In addition to matching the time of the games with the actual order of play, the athletes have also been preparing for ‘noise’ and ‘nausea’.
During the Games, executives and employees, including Chairman Choi Jae-won, flew to Paris and stayed near the stadium to run a local support camp and provide Korean lunches.
The fencing association also plans to provide medalists with a generous amount of money, although the exact amount has yet to be determined.
After Tokyo, the gold medal-winning men’s sabre team received 250 million won, while Kim Jung-hwan, the only individual medalist at the Games (bronze in men’s sabre), received an additional 40 million won. 메이저사이트