Short track speedster Park Ji-won, “My junior Hwang Dae-heon apologized first, and if he’s a senior, he should accept it” – Chosun Ilbo VRESP

He felt like he was on a roller coaster this year. Park Ji-won (28, Seoul City Hall), men’s short track national team member. At the World Cup last February, he won the ‘Crystal Glove’ (award given to the person ranked first in the World Cup overall rankings) for two consecutive years. He seemed to have solidified his position as the world’s strongest man.

The World Championships in March took advantage of that momentum. Here, the national team junior Hwang Dae-heon (25, Gangwon Provincial Office) fell due to a foul and experienced the humiliation of ‘no gold’. His previous achievements of winning two world championships also faded. If I had won, I would have received automatic selection to the national team for the next season, but I missed out on this as well. I even suffered a neck injury due to the impact when I fell. The controversy grew over the fact that Hwang Dae-heon was overly greedy and committed a ‘Team Kill’. Although he returned home wearing a neck brace, there was no atmosphere of reconciliation between the two.

For Park Ji-won, it was a crisis that could threaten his life as a player. This is because if he does not pass the representative selection round, he will be unable to participate in next year’s Harbin Winter Asian Games, which is the last opportunity to benefit from military service given to him, who is in his late 20s. In that case, he would have to enlist in the military, which could make it difficult for him to participate in the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics.

Amid the chaos, he took part in the national team selection competition last month. He took another chance by taking first place and wearing the Taegeuk mark again. In this preliminary round, he clashed with Hwang Dae-heon again and recreated the nightmare. After the selection match, Park Ji-won said, “I have not received any apology so far. “I will slowly consider whether my apology will be accepted,” he said. He seemed displeased.

Then, on the 22nd of last month, Hwang Dae-heon came. He apologized for what happened in the past and made a plea to work together as a ‘one team’ again. Park Ji-won shook off her regrets. The two said they didn’t have much conversation during the World Championships. He met with this magazine on the 2nd and said, “The important thing was what I had to do right now, namely preparing for the national team selection,” and “I didn’t have time to think about it and get lost in emotions until the selection was over.”

“Daeheon apologized sincerely. He thought that since his junior had apologized, he, as a senior, should naturally accept it. “He looked at us and talked about putting on a good show for the juniors who follow us.”

He has been a member of the national team since 2015. He won nearly 100 medals in various international competitions. But he had nothing to do with the Olympics. He was eliminated from the national team selection competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. I had to watch on TV as Lim Hyo-jun (Lin Xiaojun) and Hwang Dae-heon, who played together on the national team, won gold medals.

Park Ji-won said, “There was a lot of earnestness during the last two Olympics. “I think that actually became poison,” he said. “Now, I feel lighter. “I believe that if I do my best in what I can do right now, heaven will give me an opportunity like the Olympics,” he said.

“The Olympic stage is important, but even in the World Cup series, every game is precious to me. I worked hard and focused on each game, and before I knew it, I had two crystal gloves next to me. “I don’t want to lose this feeling.”

Although he has already become a senior member of the national team, he has no experience participating in the Asian Games. There was an opportunity in 2021, but the competition was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Now, we are targeting the Harbin Asian Winter Games next year. “I think it will be fun because it’s my first time on stage,” he said. “There is something important at stake, military service benefits, but if you play with that in mind, you won’t be able to get good results. “If you do your best and complete the race, you can be satisfied and accept any result,” he said. My dream is to use the Asian Games as a springboard to stand at the top of the world at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

In order to overcome his physical condition, which is smaller than that of foreign players, he constantly watches game videos and analyzes himself and his opponents. We come up with a different strategy for each race, looking at the location of the blocks placed at the corners of the ice.

Park Ji-won said, “I was greatly influenced by my father.” He said that from the time he started his career as a player in the fourth grade of elementary school until he was selected for the adult national team for the first time, his father followed him to every training ground and stadium and took videos of him and showed them to him. He also rescued videos of foreign games that were not easily available. Since childhood, Park Ji-won’s daily routine was to watch short track videos instead of TV programs such as cartoons or entertainment shows. He said, “Not long ago, I gave him a BMW car as a gift out of gratitude.”

After finishing one season last month, he is currently treating his injury, studying, and pursuing hobbies. The neuralgia he suffered when he collided with Hwang Dae-heon at the world championships has not yet subsided. He is also pursuing a master’s degree in sports marketing at his alma mater, Dankook University Graduate School of Sports Science. He plans to pursue a doctoral degree after completing his master’s degree. He said, “I am studying because I believe that many different paths should be opened.” His hobby is taking photos. He says he likes capturing everyday moments on camera. He also takes a lot of pictures of his colleagues working out together. He said, “I plan to post a photo on Instagram without revealing that it is short track athlete Park Ji-won.”

Park Ji-won said, “When I first became a member of the national team, I once said in an interview that my goal was to make my name known to foreign players. Now that I have achieved that goal, my goal is to maintain my position at the top of the world as long as possible.”

“Rather than leaving when the applause comes, I want to run until I collapse from exhaustion. “The end of my career as a player is to be able to congratulate my talented juniors when they one day beat me and reach the top.”