“I’ll give my wife and my soon-to-be-born son a gold medal.”
Cho Jung-doo (37, BDH Paras) announced his plan before leaving for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. He said he would give a medal to his wife Noh Hyun-joo, who signed a contract with her in February, and his son “Taiyong (Tai-myeong), who will be born on September 12. “I didn’t go home well when I started training for the Paralympics. I felt sorry for my wife, but I’m going to pay her back with the gold medal,” he said.
And Cho kept his promise. In the final round of the men’s 10-meter air pistol (sports grade SH1) at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games held at Chatoru Shooting Center in France on Monday (Korea time), Cho shot 237.4 points, beating Manish Narwal of India (234.9). He gave the Korean team its first gold medal at the first Paralympic Games. He shot 98.9 points in the first 10 shots to rank second after Yang Chao of China (100.6), before continuing to maintain the lead after ranking first with 198.9 points in the 20th shot. 스포츠토토
“Actually, I was a little nervous because I didn’t perform as well as I did during practice. I even had distracting thoughts. For example, just like thinking ‘Why is that fly sitting there?’ it was hard to even think about at a big competition,” Cho said after the match. “I suddenly thought, ‘The opponent will be pushed out anyway, so let’s shoot comfortably,'” Cho said. “That must have been the driving force behind me.”
The moment I won the gold medal, I was reminded of my wife and soon-to-be-born child. “I can’t wait to give the gold medal to my wife and child,” Cho said. “I haven’t named my child yet, but my birth name is ‘Tinyong’. Isn’t this the year of the dragon? Rather than asking my child to grow up healthy, I want to say ‘don’t go away’ more,” Cho said with a big smile to his wife Noh.
In 2007, Cho had spinal cord disorder as a result of his illness as he was not treated well for meningitis while serving in the military. He also had an acquired disability and wandered around for a long time. “I was afraid to go outside. I was stuck at home for seven to eight years, wondering what I could do, but I came here after seeing a shooting,” Cho said.
When he said, “I gave hope to many people by winning a gold medal,” he said, “It’s not solved just by talking about it,” adding, “If you go out with your own courage and meet many people, you will see the way.”
Now that he has won the gold medal, he is about to take a breather. Cho even skipped meals and picked up a gun ahead of the game. “When I have a meal, my gun doesn’t fix and shakes while digesting,” Cho said. “I want to go to a restaurant and eat ramen. I’m hungry because I haven’t eaten yet.”
