2024-07-19 17:40:31
Mr. Buaye, ‘Korean name Kim Sang-man’
“After being adopted at the age of 7, I watched the Seoul Olympics on TV.
Sports keep Korea in the mind
“I hope you see me as a child on the street”
“After I was adopted to France, I watched the Seoul Olympics on TV. I thought, ‘If I do well in sports, I can return to Korea,’ so I worked really hard in sports.”
Pierre Saint-Boyet (44), who was adopted to France at the age of 7 and grew up to be a star chef, shared his thoughts on being selected as a torch bearer on the 26th, the day of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, at his restaurant in Paris on the 11th (local time). He said, “Since then, I have been exercising really hard, whether it be soccer, tennis, table tennis, or judo, as I felt comforted watching the Seoul Olympics in France, which was unfamiliar to him after his adoption.”
Mr. Boye was born in Korea and adopted to the mountain village of Pfu-en-Blais in southern France through Holt Children’s Services at the age of seven. At the time, his Korean name on the documents was ‘Kim Sang-man.’ His French adoptive parents tried to give him a French name with ‘Sang-man’ in the middle, but the civil servant who wrote the documents made a mistake and only ‘Sang’ was included. He is currently a star chef who runs 11 restaurants in and around Paris. He visited Korea with former President François Hollande in 2015 to celebrate the 130th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations, and also directed the ‘Louis Vuitton’ pop-up restaurant in Korea in 2022.
Regarding her feelings about carrying the torch, Ms. Buaye said, “I was worried that I would get so emotional while running that I would ruin the event,” and added, “I think that while running, all the difficult times in the past would come back to me, and I would feel like I would cry because it would feel like the life I have lived was being acknowledged.”
Life as a Korean adoptee in France was not smooth. He said, “I had a lot of worries because I was different from others in the beginning of my adoption, but eventually, as time went by, I was able to turn my worries and stress into adrenaline.” He likened this process to the Olympic ‘marathon’ and said, “There were people I was grateful for in the process of running my life, like ‘the coach and family behind a great athlete.’ It’s a busy world, but we must not forget the people who helped us through failure and hardship and the experiences we had in overcoming them.”
Mr. Buaye hopes that having grown up in a foreign land and becoming a torchbearer can be a source of hope for others. “I try not to forget that I was a ‘child of the road,’” he said with a smile. “I hope people look at me and have hope.”
Just as the ‘Seoul Olympics’ and ‘sports’ became the mediums for Mr. Boye to remember Korea in France, ‘cooking’ is the bond that strongly connects him to Korea. This is because he has become a chef and has incorporated the Korean taste he had until he was 7 years old into French cuisine, gaining popularity. He said, “I want to serve as a bridge between France and Korea through cooking,” and “Korea is the source of my inspiration and roots.”
Paris = Correspondent Jo Eun-ah [email protected]
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2024-07-19 17:40:31