Wrestling standout Kim Hyun-woo (34-Samsung Life), a gold medalist at the London 2012 Olympics, wanted to have a “spectacular finale”. He wanted to end his career with a clean slate after giving it his all in the best position and without regrets. However, Kim’s hopes were dashed as he was plagued by bad luck at each of his retirement events. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was supposed to be his retirement event, was postponed by a year due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and he was unable to compete because he tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the Tokyo Olympic World Quarterfinals in Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 2021 and failed to qualify .Kim put off retirement and returned to training. He vowed to make up for the loss in Tokyo at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. It’s for the same reason that he and his fiancée, Jung Young-ji, have set their wedding date for the end of 2022.He planned to walk his wife down the aisle after winning a gold medal at the Asian Games .But even the Hangzhou Asian Games were postponed by a year .After seriously considering retirement, Kim decided to take up the challenge again, gritted his teeth and started training again. Although he is in his mid-30s, which is the “golden age” for a wrestler, he trained at an intense level that even his 20-something juniors found difficult to endure. At the national selection trials held in May this year, no Korean wrestler surpassed Kim Hyun-woo.He dominated young men more than 10 years his junior. In the final match against Park Dae-gun (Jeju Provincial Office), he injured his ribs and collapsed. The match was won, but he couldn’t get up. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t even give an interview. After being taken to the hospital, Kim was diagnosed with a damaged rib cage. For a while, Kim focused on recovery and treatment .He couldn’t just sit on his hands. The opening day of the Hangzhou Asian Games was getting closer and closer, and he had to train .The injury never fully healed. Even after arriving in Hangzhou, the pain continued .By the morning of the fourth day of competition, the pain was still there, so he got a painless injection .He was forced to compete. The medal challenge was not easy. Kim lost 3-9 to Iran’s Amin Khavianinejad, who is 10 years younger than Kim, in the first round of 16 in the men’s Greco-Roman 77 kg category at the Lin’an Sports Culture and Exhibition Center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Kim refused to give up. In the first round of the consolation bracket, he defeated Dilshod Omongeldiyev (Uzbekistan), 12 years younger than him, 6-3 to advance to the bronze medal match. In the final bronze medal match, he lost 3-5 to China’s Liu Rui .”I injured my ribs during the selection process, so I could hardly practice my parter defense, and I went into today’s match with a painless injection,” Kim said after the match, “I tried to overcome it, but it turned out like this.” “I tried to do my best 토토사이트 until the end,” he said, adding, “I hope this tournament will be the last.
