After winning back-to-back medals in swimming at the Asian Games, Kim Seo-young (29, North Gyeongsang Province) said she was frustrated by her poor performances, but she believes her confident backstroke performance led to her good results.
“I had a lot of emotions today because I wasn’t happy with my form in the preliminaries,” Kim said after winning bronze in the women’s 200m individual medley final at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Pool in Hangzhou, China on Friday. “But I thought that if I swam confidently, I would have a good result, so I pushed from the beginning.”
Kim, who won gold in the women’s 200-meter individual medley at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang in 2:08.34, a South Korean and world record at the time, has been shaken up before and after the Tokyo 2020 Games.
After failing to reach the final of the 200-meter individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics, where she was expected to win a medal, she went into a long slump and hasn’t been able to perform at the level she was expected to.
This time around, her medal prospects weren’t as bright, but she made it back-to-back podiums with a time of 2:10.36.
“Five years ago, I think I won a medal with determination,” Kim said, “but then I realized that it took a lot of hard work. I had a lot of worries, and this medal seems to compensate for that,” she smiled.
“I was frustrated because my performance was not good this year, and even when I came to Hangzhou, I was not confident because my condition was fluctuating,” she said. “I even felt anxious, but after listening to my coach’s words before the competition, I was able to play confidently and achieve a good result.”
“I thought this would be my last chance to win a medal at three consecutive Asian Games,” Kim said, adding, “If I get the chance, I’ll try again, but for now, I’ll do my best in the remaining matches.” 토토사이트