The closing of the 2024 Paris Olympics is just a few days away. Yoo Seung Min International Olympic Committee member (42) was walking towards the Stade Yves-Douis-Manoir Stadium where the men’s hockey final will be held.
Ryu was in charge of awarding medals to athletes at the ceremony. It is an official event that could be the last time he was elected as an athlete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics eight years ago.
“The IOC gets applications from the athletes commissioners first for the desired event, but I’ve got an event that our players don’t participate in. I can’t believe I’m going to be an FA in three days.”
■8 years from Rio to Paris, “I will replace my score with attendance.”
A member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission is an elected official with an eight-year term as a bridge between the IOC and active athletes. Moon Dae-sung took his first step during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Yoo is said to have excellently followed. The first step was at the Asian Beach Games in Da Nang, Vietnam, in September 2016.
“Back then, I didn’t have much language proficiency and knowledge to run an international competition,” Yoo said. “But when the IOC issued me a first-class ticket, I made an effort to do something. I think that hard work has made me what I am today.” 먹튀검증
Yoo’s performance can be estimated by two indicators.
This represents his sincerity based on the mileage he has earned by diligently traveling through the sky. The figure has become “Million Myers” (1 million miles) that he failed to achieve even when he was a professional athlete. The IOC checks the attendance rate of athletes’ committee activities every year, and it is close to 99 percent, so he has always been honored.
The number of IOC subcommittees that visit Yoo also increased from three in the first year to six in the last year. “In the first year, I was in charge of marketing, athletes’ officials, and athletes’ committees in the third year,” Yoo said with a big smile.
■ Park In-bee lamented at the losing line
Thanks to Yoo’s diligent activities, Korea’s sports diplomacy has grown significantly. The number of IOC members already stood at three, which is a fairly good level. In this regard, Park In-bee (36) failed to become a member of the IOC athletes commission on July 8. Park In-bee, who was nominated for the IOC athletes commission on behalf of Korea, received 590 votes out of 29 candidates, and ranked 18th. Unfortunately, she couldn’t move the hearts of athletes as she was pregnant with her second child.
Yoo said, “I disagree with the view that it is the limit of professional sports, not amateur sports. It is just an era in which only good election campaigns do not work, as in the past (when he was elected).”
In fact, Yoo has urged the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee to hurry to confirm candidates for the committee and prepare for the election. Internally, the IOC believed that the faster it moved, the more likely it was to win the election.
“I don’t have any concerns as Chairman Lee Ki-heung and Chairman Kim Jae-yeol of the International Skating Union are still in good shape,” Yoo said. “I’m worried because the proportion of athletes in the IOC is increasing. I think the athlete committee of the Korean Olympic Committee should be more active in the future.”
expressing regret over Park In-bee’s failed election, he stressed that it is time to think about the election of athletes commissioners to be held at the Milan-Cortina D’Ampezzo Winter Olympics two years later. “I feel like the competition for the election of athletes commission is getting fiercer every year,” Yoo said. “We need to prepare for the next election from now on, even if we are not disappointed with the defeat.”
■”Where should I use my experiences in the IOC?”
Yoo’s next move is also drawing keen attention from the public. Not a few people covet his experiences and connections at the IOC. A former president of the Korea Table Tennis Association, Yoo is an elite sports administration expert. There were some political movements to send him to the National Assembly last year, but he waved his hand first.
“It was a long journey for individuals, but I felt a lot of pressure for those who needed to play well at the Busan World Table Tennis Championships. As a representative of Korean table tennis, I had a sense of responsibility,” Yoo said. “This year marks the 20th anniversary of my winning the gold medal in Athens. I will seek advice from people around me on what path I will take in the future.”