A Hard-Fought 20kg Weight Loss: Overcoming 'Shoddy Operations' to Win a 'Valuable Medal'

[Anchor]

At the Nagoya Asian Games, rowing athletes in particular suffered greatly due to shoddy operations. It was a continuous series of hardships, from arrival to a shortened competition schedule. However, rower Park Hyun-soo, who shed a massive 20kg to compete in the tournament, overcame the adversity to win a valuable bronze medal.

Reporter Han Sung-hee has the story from Nagoya.

[Reporter]

Upon arrival, buses failed to show up, forcing them to spend 450,000 won on taxi fares. They had to wait nine hours for room assignments at the cruise ship athletes' village, endured packed shuttle buses that ran only once an hour, and to make matters worse, recovery of the stadium damaged by the great flood early this month was delayed. With only two days of training allowed, and just one hour per athlete, the national rowing team became the biggest victims of the shoddy operations at this tournament.

[Kang Min-sung / National Rowing Team Athlete]: "I think it was a bit tough because of the anxiety about whether we could perform well in the match. We couldn't even train properly..."

The competition schedule, originally set for 5 days, was shortened so that the finals for all events were held on this day, forcing some athletes to give up their originally desired events, but they still did their best as they cut through the water.

Ace Park Hyun-soo even managed to win a medal.

He finished third after a fierce battle in the lightweight single sculls final.

Park reached the top of the lightweight division at the 2018 Jakarta Games, but when the lightweight division was abolished at the Hangzhou Games, he gained weight to compete in the heavyweight division. When the lightweight division was revived for this tournament, he demonstrated fierce determination by going through harsh weight loss once again, putting a valuable medal around his neck.

[Park Hyun-soo / National Rowing Team Athlete]: "To win a medal, I lost almost about 20kg. It's a bit disappointing, but I don't have any regrets because I worked hard and did my best."

Amidst the difficulties of shoddy operations, the national rowing team wrapped up this tournament by cutting through the water without regrets.

(Photo: Kim Se-kyung | Video Editing: Lee So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.