Korean swimming, which is expected to produce multiple medalists at the 2024 Paris Olympics, got off to a good start.
The first runner, Kim Woo-min (23, Gangwon Provincial Office), stood on the podium as he had aimed.
Kim Woo-min touched the touchpad with a time of 3 minutes 42.50 seconds in the men’s 400m freestyle final at the Paris Olympics swimming competition held at the La Defense Arena in Paris, France at 3:42 am (Korean time) on the 28th, taking third place.
With this, Kim Woo-min became the second Korean swimmer to win an Olympic medal, following the ‘living history’ Park Tae-hwan.
Before Kim Woo-min, the only Korean swimmer to win an Olympic medal was Park Tae-hwan. Park Tae-hwan won a gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and silver medals in both events at the 2012 London Olympics.
With Kim Woo-min’s bronze medal, Korean swimming resumed its Olympic medal streak that had been cut off for 12 years since the London Games.
Kim Woo-min, who won the men’s 400m freestyle champion at the Doha World Aquatics Championships in February this year and was expected to win a medal at this competition, had a somewhat heavy burden on his shoulders. The swimming events at the Paris Olympics began on the 27th, the day after the opening ceremony, and the preliminaries and finals of the men’s 400m freestyle, Kim Woo-min’s main event, were held on this day. The first event to win a medal at this competition was the men’s 400m freestyle. Korean swimming, which opened a renaissance led by the golden generation led by Kim Woo-min and Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon Provincial Office), was expected to continue the broken medal streak and create multiple medalists at this competition. Although it is an individual event, if Kim Woo-min makes a good start, the entire swimming team’s spirit will rise. Hwang Sun-woo also said in an interview before the opening of the competition, “At the Doha World Championships in February this year, (Kim) Woo-min brought good results by winning the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle, and the entire Korean team achieved good results,” and “If Woo-min does well as the first runner, we will be able to show a good race with the energy we received.” In fact, Kim Woo-min made a start with a gold medal at the Doha World Championships, and Korean swimming recorded the best results ever with two gold medals and one silver medal. This time, Kim Woo-min, who took on the important task, brought good energy to the Korean swimming team by winning the Olympic medal he had longed for. Kim Woo-min was unable to race at his own pace in the preliminaries and came in 7th place, raising concerns, but in the finals, he raced in a way that suited his style of going hard from the beginning and won a medal. Now, the baton will be passed to Hwang Sun-woo. Hwang Sun-woo, who won three consecutive medals in the men’s 200m freestyle at the World Championships, is considered a strong candidate for a medal. The preliminaries and semifinals of the men’s 200m freestyle will be held on the evening of the 28th and the early morning of the 29th, respectively, and the finals will be held on the early morning of the 30th. Kim Woo-min will also compete in the 200m freestyle, but Hwang Sun-woo is considered a stronger candidate for a medal. Hwang Sun-woo, who made his name widely known on the world stage without a medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, his first Olympics, is aiming for his first Olympic medal. If Hwang Sun-woo also wins the Olympic medal he was aiming for, the atmosphere of the Korean swimming team will be even more heated. Korean swimming is also dreaming of winning a medal in the men’s 800m relay. The key members of the 800m relay are Kim Woo-min and Hwang Sun-woo. If there are two medalists, it will be a green light for Korean swimming to win its first ever team medal in the Olympics. After winning the bronze medal, Kim Woo-min said, “I think it’s a good start for Korean swimming. I hope that Hwang Sun-woo will show good results in the 200m freestyle or the 800m relay,” and “I hope that another miracle will happen.” 안전놀이터