▲ Kim Young-beom displays his gold medal on the podium after winning the men's 50m individual freestyle final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on the 21st. (Photo: Yonhap News)
Even after entering the mixed zone, the hands of Kim Young-beom (Gangwon Provincial Government), who secured South Korea's first gold medal in swimming at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, continuously reached toward the gold medal hanging around his neck.
Kim touched the pad first in the men's 50m freestyle final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre today (the 21st) with a meet record of 21.66 seconds, rising to the top of the podium.
Having had to settle for a disappointing silver medal in the 100m freestyle final a day earlier with a time of 47.65 seconds, he roared in triumph after breaking the meet record in both the heats (21.71 seconds) and the final of the 50m event.
Meeting reporters after the race, Kim shared his overwhelming thoughts, saying, "I thought it would feel real once I wore it around my neck, but even after looking at it over 100 times, I still can't believe I actually won the gold medal. The moment the Aegukga (national anthem) echoed for just me in this massive swimming pool felt truly like a dream."
He revealed that he burst into tears right after the medal ceremony, adding, "I didn't cry when talking about my parents, but seeing the coaches who went through all the hardships with me at the site made the tears well up instantly."
His narrow defeat by 0.04 seconds to Pan Zhanle of China in the 100m freestyle final held yesterday served as a valuable medicine and his surest catalyst.
Looking back, Kim said, "If I hadn't won such a disappointing silver medal yesterday, today's gold medal would never have happened. I kept replaying yesterday's touch scene over 100 times until this morning. I blamed myself a lot, thinking, 'What if I had stretched my hand out a bit more here?' but ultimately I learned the lesson that it's never over until it's over."
He continued, expressing his gratitude, "After yesterday's race ended, the head coach of my team, who also takes charge of dedicated guidance at the Athletes' Village, printed out dozens of pages of my data one by one and showed them to me to boost my confidence. They must have felt even more disappointed than I did, and I really wanted to repay the passion of the coach who believed in me until the end."
His strategy for the final, following his breaking of the previous meet record in the morning heats, was a "copy and paste" approach.
He stated, "When stepping onto the starting block for the final, I completely emptied my desire for a record and raced with the mindset of just copying and pasting the swimming I did during the heats. The coach also told me not to be greedy for records and to just swim like the heats, and miraculously, the time dropped further and the gold medal followed."
He also conveyed the thrilling emotions he felt at the moment he hit the touch pad in the final and checked the scoreboard.
Kim laughed heartily and said, "Even while celebrating intensely after looking at the scoreboard following the touch, in my mind I kept checking repeatedly, thinking, 'Is the number 1 really next to my name?' or 'Am I perhaps celebrating alone after finishing second or third?'"
Rising from a "rising star of South Korean swimming" to a bona fide Asian champion, Kim vowed, "Whether a rising star or an ace, I am grateful for all of it, but the modifier 'ace' feels a little better to hear. I will train even more tenaciously so that I can truly be called an ace."
He added, closing with his determination, "Tonight, I will probably sleep with this gold medal tucked snugly right inside my pillow. But once I wake up, I am a challenger again. I will enjoy just today and do my best starting tomorrow so that I can climb higher alongside my national team teammates in the remaining events like the relay."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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