I Forgot the Pain of ‘Team Kill’… Short Track Park Ji-won at the Starting Line Again

Forgiveness for consecutive fouls... “Hwang Dae-heon, who showed courage, it is right to accept him as a senior.”

He starts again for his first Olympics. “I will run for Korea’s short track speed track.”

National short track team ace Park Ji-won (27, Seoul City Hall) has been going through a difficult time recently.

At the 2024 International Skating Union (ISU) World Championships, where automatic selection to the national team for the 2024-2025 season was at stake, he suffered a series of fouls from his junior teammate, Hwang Dae-heon (Gangwon Provincial Office), and failed to obtain the Taegeuk mark.

If he was not selected for the national team next season, his participation in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo would be cancelled, so the emotional pain was considerable. 카지노

The pain was even greater because it was Park Ji-won, who overcame a long life of hardship and belatedly rose to the top of the world.

Fortunately, Park Ji-won participated in the national team selection competition and won the Taegeuk mark as first place overall, overcoming fierce competition from competing players.

It was literally the Taegeuk mark that was achieved after much hardship.

After the representative selection match was over, he met with Hwang Dae-heon and settled the team kill controversy.

Park Ji-won, whom we met at a cafe in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 29th, seemed to have pushed his painful memories to the back of her mind.

He smiled and said, “I overcame it well,” when he said, “It must have been very difficult,” and then added, “(Hwang) Dae-heon mustered up the courage to approach me and apologized sincerely.

I was ready (to receive an apology) too, so we had a sincere conversation.”

“I solved it by doing ,” he said.

He said, “It is incumbent on a senior to accept an apology from a junior,” and added calmly, “Now, I will run for Korean short track racing.”

Although he said it casually as if it was no big deal, it was not an easy decision.

The 2026 Olympics, where the possibility of participation almost disappeared due to Hwang Dae-heon's foul, has more meaning than a 'dream stage' for Park Ji-won.

Park Ji-won went through many twists and turns before competing on the Olympic stage.

Park Ji-won, who is from Gangneung, Gangwon-do, started short track in earnest when she was in the fourth grade at Gyeongpo Elementary School.

He said, “When I was young, I skated for fun at the local ice rink, and I have been training systematically since winter classes in the fourth grade of elementary school.”

His father, Park Gil-seon, who played as a soccer player until middle school but gave up his dream due to an injury, gave generous support to his son when he showed talent in sports.

Park Ji-won said, "I remember running with my father every day in the reservoir near my house at the time.

From then on, running every day became a habit, and it became a stepping stone for me to develop my physical strength."

Park Ji-won enjoyed every moment of exercising.

This is why he moved to Seoul when he was in the 5th grade of elementary school and began his full-fledged athlete career.

Park Ji-won's growth process was a little different from other top players.

He said, “I don’t remember winning any big competitions when I was young,” and “I was one of the average players.”

Although he was unable to show off his outstanding skills, Park Ji-won was consistent.

Even in middle school and high school, he achieved results that were at the national competition level.

There were times when he wanted to give up on his sport because of his mediocre skills.

Park Ji-won said, “I tried hard, but my skills did not improve beyond a certain point,” and “I felt my limits in high school, and I was overcome by a sense of helplessness.”

Park Ji-won, a high school student who was doubtful about his career as a player, was comforted by the teacher's advice.

Park Ji-won said, "When I was a student at Haengshin High School, my physical education teacher Yoon Kyeong-heon talked about effort and skill.

He said that if I accumulate effort, I will be able to discover myself growing at some point."

One word of grace became nourishment.

It was the same when he was eliminated from the national team selection competition for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, losing out to major players such as Lin Xiaojun (Korean name Lim Hyo-jun) and Hwang Dae-heon.

Park Ji-won did not give up and continued the challenge.

He said, "I was angry and upset every time I failed in the national team selection competition, but I persevered, remembering my teacher's words that I would find myself standing at the top at some point."

Park Ji-won, who had endured for a long time, broke out of her shell in an instant and rose to the top position in the world.

He stood tall based on his extraordinary stamina accumulated since childhood, game management ability derived from extensive training, flash-in-the-moment judgment, and excellent skating skills.

He ranked first overall in the world rankings in the 2022-2023 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Cup series, and did not miss the world's top spot in the 2023-2024 season, winning the 'Crystal Globe' trophy for two consecutive years.

Park Ji-won, who has been ranked number one in the world for two consecutive years, thought that she would compete in the 2025 Harbin Asian Games with the Taegeuk symbol in the new season and establish a bridgehead for the 2026 Olympics.

However, Park Ji-won almost lost her dream of participating in the Olympics again due to an unexpected event.

Park Ji-won, who put an end to the series of events, stood at the starting line again with extraordinary determination.

He said, "It's a stage I've never experienced before in both the Asian Games and the Olympics," and added, "I'm a little later than other athletes, but I'm excited to challenge a new stage."

He raised his voice, saying, "I will complete the perfect skating by making up for the shortcomings before the start of the new season."

The second chapter of short track ace Park Ji-won's life has begun.