Latest news with #SouthKoreanOlympic
Korea Herald
14-04-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Nat'l Olympic chief accused of negligence, rules violations while leading table tennis body
South Korean Olympic chief Ryu Seung-min on Monday was accused of violating rules regarding financial incentives while serving as head of the national table tennis governing body. The Korea Sport Ethics Center, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced it will demand discipline on two current and former executives of a national sports federation for professional malpractice, and on four other individuals, including the head of that organization, for professional negligence and rules violations. While the ethics center did not identify the organization in question, it has been confirmed as the Korea Table Tennis Association (KTTA), with Ryu, who served as KTTA chief from 2019 to 2024, being one of the four in the latter group. Ryu was elected as president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) in January this year. The KSOC will now review the ethics center's demand on penalizing its own leader and an official there said appealing the ethics center's demand remains a possibility. According to the ethics center, the two executives either handed out or received monetary incentives after securing sponsorship deals, even though the KTTA rules executives from taking any financial rewards. During his KSOC election campaign, Ryu was accused by his rival candidates of receiving incentives for winning sponsorship contracts. Ryu denied he had not received any money for securing deals worth 2.85 billion won ($2.01 million) and that the KTTA had come clean in annual financial audits by the KSOC. Though Ryu himself did not receive monetary incentives, he may still be held responsible for the illicit rewards paid out on his watch as KTTA president. Ryu said he would fully accept the decision by the ethics center but defended the KTTA's practice of giving out cash rewards for securing sponsorships. Ryu explained that incentives were put in place to encourage "aggressive marketing activities" for the KTTA, which often struggled financially with table tennis not being a major sport in the country. "I regret that I did not look into rules carefully, even if decisions were made for the good of the sport," Ryu said. Separately, the center also noted that the KTTA replaced a player on the 2021 Olympic team without going through a proper process. According to the center, a KTTA official first made a case for one player for the national team, but then Ryu pointed out another player had a better track record, which prompted the change. The center said the KTTA should have convened a competition committee meeting to review the proposed roster change. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
13-04-2025
- Sport
- Korea Herald
High schooler wins nat'l Olympic short track trials
A high school senior won the South Korean Olympic short track speed skating trials that wrapped up Sunday, earning a chance to represent the country at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. Rim Jong-un, 17, finished first overall among male skaters with 102 points after two rounds of the 2025-2026 season national team trials at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul. Rim shot to first place after the opening phase, thanks to his victory in the 1,500 meters, a runner-up finish in the 1,000m and a 17th-place showing in the 500m. Then, in the second stage, Rim once again captured the 1,500m title while finishing third in the 500m and 10th in the 1,000m. Rim won two gold medals at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Junior Short Track Championships in February, and he has made the senior national team for the first time. Hwang Dae-heon, the 2022 Olympic champion in the 1,500m, finished second overall to Rim with 89 points. Hwang, 25, had come up short in the national team trials for the 2024-2025 season while also causing controversy by committing a series of fouls on teammate Park Ji-won at ISU World Cup, world championships and national team trials. Shin Dong-min, a triple gold medalist at last year's world juniors, finished third in the trials with 55 points. The 20-year-old will also be making his senior international debut. The top three finishers for men will skate in individual events and relays at the 2026 Winter Olympics. The next two skaters in the trials, Lee Jeong-min and Lee June-seo, will only be eligible for the relays. Park Ji-won, a three-time world champion who has also won three overall World Cup titles, finished well out of contention at the trials. Despite his decorated international resume, Park has never skated at an Olympics. On the women's side, Kim Gil-li, the 2024 ISU World Cup overall champion, won the trials with 128 points, followed by Noh Do-hee with 69 points. Three-time Olympic champion Choi Min-jeong secured an automatic berth by winning an individual gold medal at the world championships last month, and only Kim and Noh earned the right to skate in individual events at the Olympics through the trials. Lee So-yeon and Shim Suk-hee, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, earned spots for the relays in Italy after finishing third and fourth in the trials. South Korea is the most successful short track country in Olympic history with 26 gold, 16 silver and 11 bronze medals. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
S. Korean Olympic chief to meet with IOC head over Olympic bid
Ryu Seung-min, head of the South Korean Olympic body, will meet with International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach next month to express South Korea's drive to host the 2036 Summer Games. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said Thursday that Ryu will meet with Bach at Olympic House in Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 8. Ryu, elected as KSOC president in January, was an IOC member from 2016 to 2024, in his capacity as a member of the Athletes' Commission voted on by fellow Olympians. "In his meeting, KSOC President Ryu will strongly express South Korea's intent to host the 2036 Summer Olympics," the KSOC said in a statement. North Jeolla Province, located in the southwestern part of the country, was chosen over Seoul on Feb. 28 as the South Korean candidate for the 2036 Olympic bid. The KSOC said officials from the North Jeolla provincial government and the central government will accompany Ryu to Switzerland. "At the meeting, Ryu will highlight that South Korea's preparations for the bid are going smoothly and that North Jeolla is putting together a bid strategy in line with the IOC's push for sustainable operations," the KSOC added. "He will also point out that South Korea can play an important role in realizing the value of peace and acceptance through sport, and that South Korea will work closely with the IOC going forward." A task force put together for the bid, made up of officials from the government, the KSOC and North Jeolla Province, held its first meeting on March 12. Seoul hosted the only Summer Games in South Korea so far in 1988. South Korea will try to become the seventh country -- joining the United States, France, Britain, Australia, Japan and Greece -- to stage multiple Summer Olympics. The country held the Winter Olympics in 2018 in the eastern province of Gangwon, with PyeongChang holding snow and sliding events and Gangneung hosting ice events. The IOC has done away with a direct vote by its members with multiple candidate cities in the race. Instead, the IOC's Future Host Commission screens potential host cities and makes a recommendation to the IOC Executive Board, which then decides whether to open a "targeted dialogue" with one or more "preferred hosts." During the targeted dialogue phase, each preferred host must fill out the IOC's Future Host Questionnaire and provide guarantees that back up its bid submission. The Executive Board will decide whether to put one or more preferred hosts up for a vote by IOC members. Seoul pursued a joint bid with Pyongyang for the 2032 Summer Olympics but the IOC chose Brisbane as its partner for the targeted dialogue in February 2021. Brisbane then garnered support from 72 out of 80 IOC delegates in a yes-or-no vote to win the bid five months later. (Yonhap)
