“My bronze medal is the most precious I have to enjoy the ‘city of romance’”
Won bronze medal in men's 400m freestyle
For Kim Woo-min (23, Gangwon Provincial Office), the Paris Games, which was his second Olympic stage, was a competition of mixed joy and regret.
While he won a bronze medal in the men's 400m freestyle, he failed to win a medal in the 800m relay, which he had so desperately wanted, as he came in 6th place in the final.
After finishing the men's 800m relay final at the 2024 Paris Olympics swimming competition held at the La Defense Arena in Paris, France on the 31st (Korean time), Kim Woo-min said, "This Olympics is a competition that I really prepared hard for. I have some regrets, but I think I did well," and "I feel relieved personally. I have some regrets, but I think it's time to forget about them now."
Kim Woo-min, who only competed in the 800m freestyle relay at the 2020 Tokyo Games held in 2021, which was his first Olympics, visited Paris with a different status this time.
Kim Woo-min, who boasted rapid growth, won the gold medal in the men's 400m freestyle at the Doha World Aquatics Championships in February this year and was considered a strong candidate for a medal in this event at the Paris Olympics.
Kim Woo-min finished 7th in the men's 400m freestyle preliminaries at this competition, narrowly clinching a ticket to the finals with 8 swimmers.
However, he raced as planned despite being assigned to the unfavorable lane 1 in the finals. Kim Woo-min, who touched the pad with a time of 3:42.50, took 3rd place after Lucas Martens (Germany, 3:41.78) and Elijah Winington (Australia, 3:42.21) and won a bronze medal. With this, Kim Woo-min became the second Olympic medalist for Korean swimming, following 'living history' Park Tae-hwan. It was the first medal for Korean swimming in 12 years since the 2012 London Olympics. Kim Woo-min said, "After winning the gold medal at the World Championships, I really wanted this Paris Olympics. I'm really happy to have achieved the satisfactory result of winning a medal. It was a medal that definitely motivated me." He continued, "I think it's the most valuable of the bronze medals in this competition. That's how much I wanted a medal at this Olympics, and I prepared for the competition more diligently than anyone else." However, he was disappointed in the 800m relay relay, where he had hoped for a medal. The Korean team recorded 7 minutes 07.26 seconds and came in 6th place. More disappointing than the ranking was the record. The 'elite members' who set an Asian record and won a gold medal at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games last year entered the finals, but fell far short of the record at that time of 7 minutes 01.73 seconds. It was also a disappointing result for Kim Woo-min, who gave up competing in the 800m and 1500m freestyle to focus on the 800m relay. Kim Woo-min emphasized, “I think one of the 10 things was not right, which led to the disappointing result. I think we can break the Asian record again with a perfect performance next time. Our team can do it.” Although he enjoyed the joy of winning a medal in his main event, it was heartbreaking for Kim Woo-min to see his close friend and roommate Hwang Sun-woo (21, Gangwon Provincial Office) struggle. Kim Woo-min said, “After I won the bronze medal in the 400m freestyle, (Hwang) Sun-woo congratulated me so much. He encouraged me to do well in the 200m freestyle, but I was eliminated in the semifinals. After that, I told him to forget about it quickly and prepare for the 800m relay,” and “However, I was heartbroken because my skills did not improve as much as I had prepared. I wanted to win a medal together and take a picture in my room, so I just regret it.” “The regret I felt during this competition will give me strength when I go back to Korea to prepare for training again,” he said, but he is planning to put it off for now. He wants to enjoy the ‘city of romance’ Paris with a carefree mind. Kim Woo-min smiled and said, “I want to enjoy the city of romance. I haven’t been there yet, but I want to see the Eiffel Tower first. After that, I want to go to the Louvre Museum and see the Mona Lisa.” 파워볼사이트