The reason for Ahn Se-young's bombshell, who is A trainer?

Aug 06, 2024

Se-young Ahn speaks after winning the Olympic gold medal

"11 gold medals, it's a really happy day, but I'm just relieved."

An official from the Korea Sports Association expressed regret over Ahn's interview bombshell right after the gold medal.

Ahn Se-young won 2-0 against China's He Bing Zhao (9th in the world) in the women's badminton singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics at Port Drachapel Stadium in Paris, France on the 5th (Korea time). It was the first Olympic women's singles gold medal in 28 years since Su Soo-hyun, who won the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Se-young Ahn shares gold medal joy with coach

After the game, Ahn said, `I'm so happy that I can't really describe it. "I feel like I'm finally breathing" and "The moment when I fought with the trainer and coach Ronnie next to me when I couldn't go up due to injuries after the Asian Games, and I cried and got annoyed, made me realize that the moments were not in vain." "Every moment I was afraid and worried. As I couldn't breathe and endured a difficult moment, the moment came when I could breathe and cheer like this. Can it be any better?"Ahn Se-young, who smiled, then made a barrage of bombshells. He said "My injuries were worse than I thought. I thought the national team was too complacent. I was very disappointed in the national team. I'm sorry that I made Su-Jeong have a hard time and look around to make my dream come true. At the end of this moment, I thought it would be difficult to continue with the national team."

The biggest issue was the renewal of the personal trainer. The trainer mentioned by Ahn Se-young in the interview is a support staff selected by the Badminton Korea Association at their own expense to manage Ahn Se-young's conditioning in June. Among the 1,000 players who entered the Jincheon National Training Center, Ahn Se-young was the only player who received exclusive management from personal trainers. It was simply 'Special Care' to support Ahn Se-young's gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Badminton national team member Ahn Se-young celebrates after winning the gold medal after beating China's He Bing Zhao in the women's singles final at the 2024 Paris Olympics at Port de la Chappelle in Paris, France on the 5th (Korea time). Paris (France) = Reporter Chung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.8.5/

Trainer A had the toughest moment with Ahn since the injury to the final of the Hangzhou Asian Games in October. Ahn Se-young is known to have relied on the body and mind of a lonely and difficult athlete's village life trainer. However, while working with A trainer, who is like an older sister and mentor, on the training ground and at the stadium, she gradually became distant from the badminton team leaders and colleagues, and there were rumors that Ahn Se-young was alone with the trainer in the athletes' village. Ahn reportedly hoped for out-of-town training with trainer A just before the Paris Olympics.

With the contract period of A trainer and the association expiring at the end of June ahead of the Paris Olympics, Ahn Se-young hoped to accompany the trainer, and after the Korean Sports Council approved additional personnel, the association proposed an additional contract to temporarily accompany him during the Olympics from July 8 to August 8 instead of renewing the contract. As the contract of the national team leaders and staff was terminated after the Olympics, the association posted an announcement and asked to apply when it was re-elected, and the trainer refused to accompany him to the Paris site because he did not comply with the month-long contract. The Korean Sports Association added a trainer and a doctor in charge of the oldest veteran of the athletes' village at the Paris site, and the association dispatched Korean medicine doctors from Korea to provide intensive support to Ahn Se-young" he said.

In an interview with Yonhap News in late June, trainer A tried to instill 'romantic' in Ahn. I want to fill my own romance day by day, and Ahn Se-young expressed her determination in a media day interview on the D-30th of the Paris Olympics.

"The trainer said a lot of good things to remind me. He explained, "'When I start to get excited when I exercise, and when I think I finished the exercise well, he said that I lived a very good day.'" In an interview right after the gold medal, Ahn talked about "romantic", but the bombshell was far from "romantic" right after the perfect gold medal that overcame the ordeal.

An official from the Korea Sports Association said, "There may be some disappointment to the association and we can calmly talk about what needs to be improved. However, it is embarrassing to hear the bombshell remarks at the Olympic gold medal scene on a happy day when the whole nation celebrates its gold medal. I hope you think about the sincerity of the many people who supported you and silently until today," he sighed.

sky4us@sportschosun.com