The first Korean business athlete to win three titles in a row, 13 years after Park Tae-hwan.
Swimming middle and long-distance powerhouse Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Province), who was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the Korean team at the first-ever Asian Games, said it was a “great motivation” and vowed to continue to excel.
“I'm really happy to receive the honor of being named the MVP of the Asian Games,” Kim said through his management company, All That Sports, after being named the men's MVP of Team Korea at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on Aug. 8. “I'm proud to be rewarded for all my hard work and training.
Earlier, on the closing day of the Hangzhou Asian Games, the Korean Sports Council announced that Kim Woo-min and Kim Im-hyun (archery) were named the male and female MVPs of the Korean team, respectively.
This is the first time that the KOC has selected its own MVPs.
The MVPs were voted on by a panel of journalists and will receive a cash prize of 30 million won each.
Kim won three medals at the Asian Games.
Kim is only the third South Korean athlete to win a triple medal at an Asian Games, joining Choi Yun-hee at New Delhi 1982 (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley), and Park Tae-hwan at Doha 2006 (200m-400m-1500m freestyle) and Guangzhou 2010 (100m-200m-400m freestyle).
Kim won gold in the 800m freestyle in 7:46.03, a new Korean and Asian Games record. He shaved 1.66 seconds off his previous Korean record (7:47.69) set at the Fukuoka World Championships and was 2.33 seconds ahead of Sun Yang's (CHN) record of 7:48.36 set at Jakarta-Palembang 2018.
He won the 400 freestyle in 3:44.36.
Kim joined Yang Jae-hoon (Gangwon-do), Lee Ho-joon (Daegu Metropolitan City) and Hwang Sun-woo (Gangwon-do) in the men's 800-meter freestyle relay to break the Asian record and win gold. The quartet swam the final leg of the 800-meter freestyle relay, setting an Asian record of 7:01.73 and giving Korean management its first team gold medal at the Asian Games.
Kim Woo-min added a silver medal in the 1500-meter freestyle to finish the Games with three golds and one silver.
“It's a great prize, and I feel like I need to work harder and do better in the future. It's a great motivation,” said Kim. “I will show better races at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, next February and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. I would like to thank everyone who supported me at the Asian Games.” 카지노사이트존
