Just a Bronze Medal for a New Apartment? Winning Without Competition

〈Anchor〉

The inappropriate behavior and remarks of some athletes who received military service exemptions due to their gold medals at the previous Asian Games raised controversies over the military service special exemption system. However, besides the military service benefits granted for winning a bronze medal or higher at the Olympics or a gold medal at the Asian Games, there is another benefit provided to outstanding athletes: the special supply of apartments. Known as the special supply for medalists, its eligible scope is much wider than that of the military service exemption. Athletes can secure special supply points just by ranking up to 6th at the Olympics, or even by winning a bronze medal at the Asian Games and the CISM World Military Games. Over the past five years, a total of 72 athletes have been allocated apartments through this system, and it has been confirmed that this includes 7 cases where apartments were received solely based on bronze medals from the Asian Games and the Universiade.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has an exclusive report.

〈Reporter〉

A newly built apartment complex in Incheon.

Back in 2021, at the time of its initial sales offering, about 31,000 people applied for the first-priority general supply, recording a competition ratio of 43 to 1.

However, the situation was different for the special supply for outstanding athletes, where medalists from international sports competitions competed exclusively among themselves.

Winners are determined by cumulative points, such as 90 points for an Olympic gold medal, 2 points for 6th place, 10 points for a gold medal at the Asian Games, Universiade, or World Military Games, and 1 point for a bronze medal. In this apartment's case, it was confirmed that 9 people applied for 10 special supply units, allowing all of them to receive apartments without any competition.

In particular, 2 of the winners secured their special supply units with a record of just a single Asian Games bronze medal.

Similar cases were found at other apartment complexes.

At this apartment complex currently under construction with move-ins scheduled for next year, two athletes who won a single bronze medal at the Asian Games were nominated for the special supply without having to compete.

This is internal data from the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee obtained by SBS.

Over the past five years or so, 72 current and former athletes have received apartments through special supply across 43 apartment complexes where the special supply for outstanding athletes was implemented.

The competition ratio for the special supply was 1 to 1 or lower for more than half of the cases, and 56 percent of the athletes who won allocations did so with scores that included Asian Games achievements.

There were as many as 7 cases where winners secured apartments with just a single Asian Games or Universiade bronze medal, which is the minimum score of 1 point.

At a large, newly built apartment complex in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, where a 39-square-meter exclusive area unit was traded for 1.85 billion won this year, 7 athletes received apartments through the special supply.

(Photo: Park Jin-ho, Kang Si-u | Video Editing: Won Hyung-hee | Design: Kim Han-gil | Data provided by the office of lawmaker Jang Kyung-tae, National Assembly Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee)

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〈Anchor〉

Reporter Kim, I actually heard about this special supply system for outstanding athletes for the first time, and many people probably did not know it existed either. How does this actually work?

Q. The special supply system for outstanding athletes?

[Reporter Kim Kwan-jin : When apartment units are put up for sale, typically about 10 percent of the total volume is set aside as institutional recommendation special supplies for persons of national merit or people with disabilities. The specific details are decided through consultations between the suppliers and local governments, and this special supply portion includes allocations for elite athletes. First, applicants must meet the non-homeowner requirement. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee selects winners by drawing lots among athletes in descending order of their cumulative scores from past sports competitions. This special supply is ongoing this year as well, and after checking all the quotas announced by the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee for this year, we found that there are more than 60 eligible candidates.]

Q. Which competitions are eligible for score recognition?

[Reporter Kim Kwan-jin : This system was introduced back in 1983 to support the housing of athletes who raised the nation's prestige by achieving results in international competitions. In the past, winning medals in international competitions was much harder than it is now. Therefore, points were awarded even for finishing up to 6th at the Olympics. In the case of world championships, points are recognized not only for quadrennial events but also for finishing in the top three in events held every one, two, or three years. The Asian Games, Universiade, and CISM World Military Games are also included.]

Q. Criticisms of excessive privileges?

[Reporter Kim Kwan-jin : The competitions that grant recognized points also include the Paralympic Games and the World Championships for athletes with disabilities. In addition, it is difficult to say that the share of special supply athletes takes up a massive portion of the total housing supply. However, as the status of professional sports has risen, there are now more high-earning athletes than in the past, leading to criticisms asking whether it is appropriate to grant all these special privileges to non-homeowners without any separate income or asset criteria. Furthermore, for regular citizens, apartment subscription competition ratios are extremely high these days. Among the cases we investigated through a full census, a first-priority general supply competition ratio for an apartment in Sejong City exceeded 3,500 to 1, while the special supply for outstanding athletes had 2 applicants for 1 opening, resulting in a 2 to 1 ratio. Voices are growing louder that it is time to comprehensively review the system as a whole, such as determining which competition results up to what ranking should be recognized, and how long past winning records should remain valid.]
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.