It's a golden age for Korean swimming. The Korean swimming team won a whopping 22 medals in the swimming management events at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games from July 24-29. The breakdown is six gold, six silver, and 10 bronze medals. This is a record-breaking performance, both in terms of gold medals and total monthly wins. It's the emergence of a "golden generation.
The most prominent athletes are Hwang Sun-woo (20) and Kim Woo-min (22-Gangwon Provincial Office), who can be considered the team's "two-tops". This is the first Asian Games for both athletes, and their performances have raised expectations for the future. Hwang Sun-woo won six medals (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) in Hangzhou. While he fell short of Park Tae-hwan, who won seven medals in Doha in 2006 and Guangzhou in 2010, he certainly proved that he is one of the best in Asia.
Kim Woo-min, the "New Marine Boy," won three medals in his first Asian Games. Kim won gold in the men's 800-meter freestyle relay, 800-meter freestyle, and 400-meter freestyle. He is only the third South Korean swimmer to win three medals at an Asian Games after Choi Yun-hee (New Delhi 1982) and Park Tae-hwan (Doha 2006, Guangzhou 2010). Kim Woo-min took silver in the 1500-meter freestyle, and if he improves his long-distance skills, he could go for a quadruple at the next Games.
South Korean swimming is no stranger to one or two standout performers like Park Tae-hwan. But never before has the team been so evenly matched in medals. Ji Yoo-chan (21, Daegu City Hall) won Korea's first gold medal in the men's 50-meter freestyle and Baek In-chul (23, Jung-gu Office, Busan City) surprised with a gold in the men's 50-meter butterfly. As a women's backstroker, she won an unprecedented five medals (one silver and four bronze).
4 bronze medals) in the women's backstroke, Lee Eun-ji (17-Bangsango) also stands out.
How did this golden generation come about? First, they were influenced by Park Tae-hwan, who dominated in the mid-to-late 2000s and early 2010s. They are the so-called "Park Tae-hwan Kids. This, coupled with the Korean Sports Council's investment in strengthening basic sports and the efforts of the Korean Swimming Federation, which supported the team on two overseas training trips earlier this year, has led to the emergence of the golden generation.
What's more, they are physically fit. Until now, with the exception of Park Tae-hwan (184 centimeters) and a few others, Korean swimmers have been in the 170-centimeter range. However, key players such as Hwang Sun-woo (187 centimeters) and Kim Woo-min (182 centimeters), as well as Yang Jae-hoon (25-Gangwon Provincial Office-190 centimeters) and Lee Ho-joon (22-Daegu City Hall-184 centimeters) are mostly over 180 centimeters. That's why the team is stronger overall. 카지노사이트가이드
The teamwork of the national swimming team has also been noted. This is because the team has a good chemistry among the athletes, even though it is mainly composed of individual events. In particular, it is analyzed that the athletes who trained together through difficulties when it was impossible to compete in international competitions due to COVID-19 have developed a synergistic effect.
It's symbolic that Japan has been so dominant in swimming. Japan, which locked horns with China at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games with 19 gold medals, won just five gold, 10 silver, and 15 bronze at the Games. Japan (30) won more total medals than South Korea (22), but South Korea edged Japan in gold medals.
Chinese swimming was as strong as South Korea's at the Games. "Just like the world championships, there is a very strong Chinese team at the Asian Games, and even though Japan was a little weak, I think they have a very good system, so I think we can learn a lot from them," said Kim Woo-min on the 29th after winning three gold medals. "I think we showed that Asian athletes can do it on the world stage."