Seoul: After winning the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, South Korean badminton star An Se-young launched a scathing critique against the Badminton Korea Association (BKA). Despite adopting a more subdued tone upon her return home, hoping to shift the focus back to athletes still competing, Lee Kee-heung, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), responded to her accusations in an interview with Korean media, defending the BKA and emphasizing that the BKA has developed and nurtured many outstanding badminton players, with An Se-young being the only one to express dissatisfaction.
In addressing An Se-young’s criticisms, Lee Kee-heung claimed that her impatience led her to insist on competing internationally before fully recovering from her injury. “We have records of conversations between her and the coach. We advised her to rest more, and the association also felt she should protect her body, but she insisted that it was fine and went ahead with competing.”
An Se-young also hinted that she might leave the national team if the BKA doesn’t make changes. When asked whether An Se-young could compete internationally as an independent player, Lee Kee-heung bluntly replied, “It’s impossible.”
Meanwhile, former Korea’s 1996 Atlanta Olympics women’s singles gold medalist Bang Soo-Hyun also sided with the BKA, stating that the BKA has taken good care of her.
An Se-young became the first South Korean to win the Olympic women’s singles gold since Bang Soo-Hyun in 1996. Bang, who served as a commentator for MBC during the Paris Olympics badminton events, even took a commemorative photo with An Se-young in the interview zone after the gold medal match, symbolizing the passing of the torch. However, the situation has since taken a turn.
After An Se-young’s criticism of the BKA for poor injury management and focus primarily on the more successful doubles players, Bang Soo-hyun stated in an interview with YTN radio’s “Wise Radio Life” on August 7th: “An Olympic gold medal isn’t won by just one person. I saw no expression of gratitude to the coaches or teammates who trained with her,” indirectly accusing An Se-young of being ungrateful.
“In a way, all players have no choice but to go to a big tournament with injuries,” added Bang. “We have to win the Olympic qualifications and the ranking points, so we take all the injuries with us,” she explained.
In a subsequent interview, Bang Soo-Hyun acknowledged that An Se-young had a tough time competing internationally with an injury sustained during the Hangzhou Asian Games. However, she believes that the BKA has provided An Se-young with a lot of support, pointing out that the association has never allowed players to have personal coaches, and An Se-young was the first.
Bang Soo-hyun emphasized that all national team players endure hardship, saying, “She’s not the only one who has it tough; everyone does. I also joined the national team at a young age and went through all of this. No one was forcing me to join the national team.”
Bang also mentioned that the BKA has gone out of its way to support An Se-young. She can understand the desire to overturn unfair practices after winning an Olympic gold medal or hope for better treatment of athletes, but such comments seem to overlook the hard work of coaches and other players, which Bang finds regrettable.
Bang Soo-hyun further criticized An Se-young for her “explosive remarks” during the gold medal press conference, which overshadowed the achievements of other athletes. She stressed that she has no ties to the BKA and stated, “Every athlete will have some dissatisfaction with the association at some point. I, too, had my grievances during my playing days. But after going through all the hard work to win an Olympic gold, wouldn’t it be better to return home, collect your thoughts, and then speak to the media?”
