[TV서울=신예은 기자] Former Korean Short Track Representative Lim Hyo-jun, 25, who chose to naturalize in China to participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, will not be able to step on the Olympic stage because he does not understand the rules properly.
An official from the Korea Sports Association said on the 9th that “Im Hyo-joon cannot compete in the Beijing Olympics as a Chinese national team if the Korea Sports Association opposes it in accordance with Article 41, Paragraph 2 of the Olympic Charter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”
According to the charter, in order for an athlete to change nationality to compete in the Olympics, three years must elapse after the international competition in which the previous nationality was played. Since Hyo-Jun Lim participated in the International Ice Skating Federation (ISU) World Championship on March 10, 2019 as a Korean representative, he can compete as a Chinese representative after March 10, 2022.
As long as the Beijing Olympics, which will be held from February 4 to 20 next year, are not postponed due to the aftermath of the spread of Corona 19 or there is no special reason, it is difficult for Lim Hyo-jun to compete in the event.
According to the Charter, the grace period can be shortened or canceled if the former National Olympic Committee (NOC), the current nationality NOC, and the International Federation by Sport (IF) agree.
In other words, if the Korean Sports Association allows, Lim Hyo-joon can participate in the Beijing Olympics as a Chinese representative, but the Sports Association allows him to participate in the Olympics because it can have a decisive influence on the medals of Korean athletes and leave a bad precedent. It doesn’t seem to be.
Yu-min Won, a Paralympic ski player with Canadian nationality, was naturalized to Korea to participate in the PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games in 2018, but his participation in the Canadian Paralympic Games was lost. This is because the subject of the Olympic Games (IOC) and the subject of the Paralympic Games (International Paralympic Committee·IPC) are different, but the contents of the regulations are the same.
Lim Hyo-joon, who won the men’s 1,500m gold medal and the men’s 500m bronze medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, was charged with forced harassment by pulling the pants of a junior of the national team to reveal the body part during physical training at the Jincheon National Athletes’ Village Weight Training Center in June 2019. Was charged with.
Lim Hyo-jun, who had been suspended for a year from the Korea Ice Skating Federation, requested a reconsideration from the Sports Fair Committee of the Korea Sports Association, but did not achieve his intention. In March of last year, he filed a lawsuit against the Ice Skating Federation to confirm the invalidity of disciplinary action, and in November of that year, he was acquitted in an appeals trial related to the alleged harassment.