“All the successes and failures after the Tokyo Olympics are the process of winning a medal at the Paris Olympics.”
Woo Sang-hyuk leaves for training in Europe
‘Smile Jumper’ Woo Sang-hyuk (28, Yongin City Hall) has just begun his final journey to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On the morning of the 17th, Woo Sang-hyuk left the departure hall of Incheon International Airport to leave for Prague, Czech Republic.
Will we be able to finish this journey on the podium at the Paris Olympics?
Right before leaving the country, Woo Sang-hyuk said with a grin, “I’m putting my whole body into work to stand on the podium at the Paris Olympics. I trained with the determination that if I don’t win a medal, I won’t come back. My goal is big, a gold medal.”
The Paris Olympics track and field men’s high jump preliminaries will be held on August 7 at 6:10 PM Korean time (10:10 AM on the 7th local time) and will be held at 3:05 AM on August 11 (7 PM on the 10th local time). 5 minutes) to determine the winner of the medal.
Sanghyuk Woo is classified as one of the ‘Big Four’ of world track and field men’s high jump along with Mutaz Essa Barsim (Qatar), Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy), and Juvon Harrison (USA).
Naturally, he is considered a strong candidate for a medal at the Paris Olympics.
Until three years ago, Woo Sang-hyuk was a player who could not be guaranteed to participate in the Olympics.
In fact, I was nervous until the ‘list of players’ for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics was confirmed.
Woo Sang-hyuk recalled, “I quietly left the country three years ago. Inside, I decided to run 2m35, but I couldn’t say it out loud because I knew no one would believe me.”
Three years ago, Woo Sang-hyuk exceeded his personal best of 2m31 at the time on June 29, 2021, the last day of recognition of Tokyo Olympic ranking points, and difficultly won the right to participate in the Tokyo Olympics.
Among the 33 people who competed in the Tokyo Olympics finals, Woo Sang-hyuk’s ranking was 31st.
However, Woo Sang-hyuk set a new Korean record of 2m35 in the Tokyo Olympics finals and ranked 4th, the best in Korean track and field.
Afterwards, Woo Sang-hyuk became an ‘invitee’ to major international track and field competitions.
On March 20, 2022, Woo Sang-hyuk surpassed 2m34 and climbed to the top of the World Indoor Championships. It was the first gold medal in a major competition in Korean track and field.
Other first Korean records were also set, such as second place at the 2022 Eugene World Championships (2m35) and victory at the 2023 Diamond League Final (2m35).
Woo Sang-hyuk said, “After the Tokyo Olympics, I played a lot of games. There were days when I got good results and there were days when I had disappointing results.” Looking back on the past three years, he added, “All the successes and failures I experienced after the Tokyo Olympics were part of the path to a medal at the Paris Olympics. “I feel desperate to get on the Olympic podium this time.”
Woo Sang-hyuk is training in the Czech Republic and will participate in the Monaco Diamond League on July 13 to check his performance.
A decision will be made later on whether to participate in the London Diamond League, which will be held on July 21st.
After training and actual matches in the Czech Republic, they will move to France, the ‘battleground’, and have a final cooldown at the Camp Guinemer, the Paris Olympic base camp for the Korean athletes set up in the Fontainebleau region.
The arrival date for the Paris Olympic Village was set for August 5.
Woo Sang-hyuk, who was explaining the remaining schedule, said, “I have accumulated enough experience and trained really hard.” He added, “The high jump finals will be held at dawn in Korean time, but if you support me, I will work harder and survive to the end. I will present a medal that shines in Korean athletics. “I will do it,” he promised.
Since liberation, there have been only two Olympic medalists produced by Korean track and field: Hwang Young-jo (gold medal) in Barcelona in 1992 and Lee Bong-ju (silver medal) in Atlanta in 1996. Both medals came in the marathon, a road event.
In track & field, there has yet to be a Korean Olympic medalist.
If Woo Sang-hyuk’s wish comes true, Korean athletics will also have an Olympic medalist in track and field events. 토토사이트