Kim Woo-min Sheds Tears After Hiding Shoulder Injury: "Frustrated My Body Won't Cooperate" [AG Video]

South Korean swimming star Kim Woo-min (Gangwon State Office) burst into tears that he had been holding back.

Kim touched the pad with a time of 15:16.52 in the men's 1,500m freestyle final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Japan today, finishing 8th out of 8 swimmers.

Behind that time and ranking was a severe shoulder injury he had been enduring all on his own.

Kim confessed, "My shoulder started hurting about two months ago during training. I went to the hospital thinking it was just a simple inflammation, but was diagnosed with issues in my rotator cuff (shoulder tendon) and labrum (shoulder cartilage)."

The Korea Swimming Federation stated, "He was diagnosed with an impingement syndrome, where the supraspinatus of the left rotator cuff and cartilage are partially torn, causing bones and tendons to rub against each other."

Despite this, Kim pushed ahead to compete out of sheer determination.

Kim said, "Since I visited the hospital right before departure, there was nothing that could be done immediately. It felt such a waste given how hard I had prepared, and I held on thinking things would get better as training volume decreased during the tapering period."

He lowered his head and added, "Even after racing the 800m freestyle yesterday, I thought I was relatively fine and wanted to muster up strength today. However, the pain flared up during the race, and it was so frustrating and helpless to have my heart desperately want it while my body wouldn't cooperate at all."

Blaming himself, Kim said, "Our coach tried to dissuade and worry me that pushing too hard could affect my remaining events, but I ignored those concerns and stepped up with the mindset of 'let's just try.' Yet, I couldn't do anything in the face of the pain, and kept feeling depressed while swimming."

Although individual events such as his main disciplines—the 400m, 200m, and 800m freestyle—remain, it is difficult to guarantee a normal completion given his current physical condition.

If the injury worsens, it could negatively impact his future athletic career.

Even so, Kim showed a strong will to compete, expressing, "I am not giving up. Even if it hurts, I want to keep pushing through. Because it is such a waste of the training I've done so far, I want to swim all the way to the end as much as possible."

However, as it is a shoulder injury directly linked to his athletic career, whether he will compete in the remaining events is expected to be finalized after discussions with his coach and the national team coaching staff.

The Korea Swimming Federation stated, "He will skip the 200m freestyle, decide on the 800m freestyle after consulting with the medical team, and is currently preparing to compete in the 400m freestyle."

Kim is a key figure who opened a golden era for South Korean swimming by winning three gold medals in the 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, and 800m freestyle relay at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle, becoming the only South Korean swimmer to win a medal at the time.
 
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.