[단독] ‘Pyeongchang Gold’ Lim Hyo-jun, naturalized in China… Is it’not the 2nd Victor’?

◀ Anchor ▶

Sports news on Saturday night.

It was confirmed by MBC’s interview that Lim Hyo-jun, a short track gold medalist at the PyeongChang Olympics, acquired Chinese nationality.

This is the exclusive report by reporter Lee Myung-jin.

◀ Report ▶

Lim Hyo-jun, who was the men’s national team ace, won a gold medal in the 1,500m short track of the PyeongChang Olympics and a bronze medal in the 500m.

After completing the Chinese special naturalization process, I received my Chinese passport and left for China yesterday.

Im Hyo-jun, who is scheduled to join the national team training as soon as self-quarantine is completed, will compete in the Beijing Olympics next year as China’s representative if he passes the national team.

It is known that Im Hyo-jun decided to naturalize after hard work because of the judgment that it would be difficult to properly play a player life in Korea anymore.

Two years ago, during the training of the national team, he was accused of lowering the pants of a male junior to reveal his body parts, and was acquitted at the second trial at the end of last year. It is known that there was a great sense of crisis that the player’s life could end as it is because he could not train properly.

This is not the first time a top short track athlete has chosen to be naturalized.

In 2011, Ahn Hyun-soo was naturalized to Russia, and under the name of Victor An, he participated in the Sochi Olympics and won three crowns.

Currently, the short track team in China is headed by coach Kim Sun-tae, who led the Korean team at the PyeongChang Olympics.

This is MBC News Lee Myung-jin.

(Video editing: Park Byeong-geun)

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