Oh Sang-wook: “Just like I did, juniors should also overcome the ‘wall’ of seniors and climb up to the ‘world class’ together.”

We hear from Oh Sang-wook, the two-time Paris Olympic gold medalist… The secret to Korea’s ‘Appensers’ winning three consecutive championships
When I first started fencing in middle school, I thought, ‘Sabre, you won’t get gold even in 100 years’…
A culture of passing everything on to juniors… Breaking the stereotype of ‘Western glass’ and reaching the top of the world
I also tell everything to my juniors… I hope to meet my juniors in the finals of a major tournament

Oh Sang-wook, a two-time Paris Olympic fencing champion, stood in front of the camera on the 21st at Yeonggwang Sportium in Jeonnam Province, where the President’s Cup National Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships and National Team Selection Tournament were being held. Oh Sang-wook has not rested a single day since the Olympics ended, responding to photo shoots, commercials, and TV entertainment program shoots, and his schedule is lined up until October, including the National Team Selection Tournament and the National Sports Festival. Oh Sang-wook said with a smile, “I’ve been living like this for 10 years, so I don’t care. Just like people go to work and say, ‘Today is a meeting,’ the players say, ‘Now it’s a competition. ’” Yeonggwang=Reporter Jeon Young-han [email protected]

“Wow, he’s handsome. Can we take a picture together?”

On the 21st, at Yeonggwang Sportium in Jeonnam, where the Presidential Cup National Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championships and National Team Selection Tournament were in full swing. Wherever Oh Sang-wook (28) stepped foot, photo shoots and autograph requests poured in. Oh Sang-wook, who came to get his equipment checked the day before the game, smiled and took pictures with everyone who approached him and handed him their cell phones, from junior players to medical volunteers, during the approximately 6 hours he stayed at the stadium. Senior fencing players were also busy asking Oh Sang-wook, “Please make sure to take a picture of my daughter,” and “Please give her lots of autographs.”

The total number of participants in this competition, which has been held since the 17th, is 1,021. This is a nearly 20% increase from last year’s 843. This is the first time that the number of participants in this competition, which is now in its 64th year, has exceeded 1,000. An official from the Korea Fencing Association said, “The number of participants has been steadily increasing every year. Among the three events (epee, foil, sabre), the number of participants in sabre has increased the most.”

The Korean men’s sabre team ‘Appengers’ (Avengers + fencing), including Oh Sang-wook, won three consecutive Olympic team gold medals up until the Paris Games. Oh Sang-wook also won an individual gold medal, becoming the first Asian fencing player to win two gold medals at the Olympics. Oh Sang-wook said with a laugh, “When I first started fencing in 2009, when I was in my first year of middle school, I heard people say, ‘Korean fencing sabre won’t win an Olympic gold medal even in 100 years. ‘”

The first Korean fencing athlete to win an Olympic gold medal was Kim Young-ho (53), who won the men’s foil at the 2000 Sydney Games. Lee Sang-gi (58) also won a bronze medal in the men’s epee at the same games. However, sabre did not win an Olympic medal until the 2008 Beijing Games.

It was generally accepted that sabre was advantageous to Western athletes with longer limbs because it could be used to stab or cut the entire upper body. However, the Korean men’s national team broke this consensus by winning a surprise gold medal in the team event at the 2012 London Olympics and maintaining the top spot in the International Fencing Federation (FIE) team rankings since the 2016-2017 season.

Oh Sang-wook cited the ‘culture of passing on everything he knows about fencing to his juniors’ as the secret. Oh Sang-wook was first selected for the national team in 2014 when he was a third-year high school student and shared a room with Kim Jeong-hwan (41), who was 13 years older. Oh Sang-wook said, “Even though we were competitors, Jeong-hwan taught me all his know-how. I also teach everything I know to my juniors when they ask.”

He added, “I hope that the juniors’ skills will improve a lot next season. It’s not good for the juniors to improve while my skills are declining. We need to rise to ‘world class’ together. That way, I can continue to work hard not to lose to my younger siblings. The juniors shouldn’t just try to stay in my shadow.”

In the 2014-2015 season when Oh Sang-wook first joined the national team, the FIE sabre individual ranking was 1st place for Koo Bon-gil (35) and 2nd place for Kim Jeong-hwan. In the 2015-2016 season, Kim Jeong-hwan took 1st place, and in the 2016-2017 season, Koo Bon-gil regained the 1st place. Then in the 2018-2019 season, Oh Sang-wook took 1st place. The seniors and juniors pushed and pulled each other to maintain their position as the world’s best.

Oh Sang-wook said, “When I first joined the national team, I thought the seniors who won gold medals at the London Olympics were so strong that I was like an ‘unbeatable wall.’ In fact, when a senior is in good shape, a junior can’t beat them. At first, I thought I could surpass my seniors if I just worked hard. However, I needed experience and distribution beyond the realm of training. In particular, sabre is not easy to overcome because if you slurp, you get five points.”

He continued, “But at some point, those great seniors lost their skills. When the ‘aging curve’ came to the seniors, the juniors who were in 5th or 6th place held on and helped them get to where they are now.” He said, “Even those who made it to the top have all fallen. Of course, I will do the same. I hope the day comes soon when I can meet my juniors in the finals of a major tournament.”

Yeonggwang = Reporter Lim Bo-mi [email protected]

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2024-08-23 02:40:35