Im Hyo-jun is advancing to court after being acquitted at the second trial trial held at the Seoul Central District Court on November 27, 2020. yunhap news
China has recruited world-class talents as leaders in various sports such as speed skating, bobsled, and curling in order to achieve good results at the Beijing Winter Olympics next year, and even Hyo-jun Lim, 25, a gold medalist at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, will join the national team through naturalization procedures. It turned out to be a plan. Short track is a gold medal competition with Korea.
According to Lim Hyo-jun’s management company Brion Company and the Korea Ice Skating Federation, Lim Hyo-jun did not renew his contract with his former team, Goyang City Hall at the end of last year. It is reported that Hyo-jun Lim, who has been focusing only on individual training for the past two years, finished the Chinese special naturalization procedure two months ago and left Korea on the 5th. Brion Company explained the background of the decision to naturalize, “I wanted to go to Beijing as a Korean athlete and enjoy the glory of losing the Olympics in a row, but due to the prolonged trial and disciplinary action of the Ice Skating Federation, it became difficult to carry on the dream of participating in the Olympics with the Taegeuk mark in effect.” did.
Hyojun Lim is the national team ace who won the men’s short track 1,500m gold medal and 500m bronze medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. However, in June 2019, during physical training at the Jincheon national athlete’s village weight training center, he was charged with pulling the pants of the national team junior A to reveal the body part (forced harassment). He was fined 3 million won in the first trial, but was acquitted in the second trial at the end of last year, and is now awaiting a Supreme Court decision. Separately, the one-year suspension of the athlete’s qualification by the Ice Skating Federation was halted due to a second trial, but disciplinary action may begin again at the judgment of the Supreme Court.
With Lim Hyo-jun’s naturalization, the Chinese short track team became Korea’s biggest opponent. The Chinese national team has an unusual position of 10 Korean leaders, including former Korean national short-track coach Kim Sun-tae and former short-track national team coach Viktor An (Korean name Ahn Hyun-soo), who has been naturalized to Russia. An official at Bryon Company said, “There is no problem with joining the Chinese national team as coach Kim Sun-tae is there.” Please, “he said.
China has only won 62 medals (13 gold, 28 silver, 21 bronze) since participating in the first Winter Olympics in 1980, and most of the gold medals are focused on short track (10). This is why short-track results are important to build pride in next year’s Beijing Olympics. An official of the Ice Skating Federation said, “There was insufficient effort to induce reconciliation between Lim Hyo-jun and the victim A player and prevent them from going to court. He pointed out that being disciplined also played a part in naturalization.”
Park Kwan-gyu reporter [email protected]
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