Soon after celebrating her first Olympic gold medal Monday afternoon in Paris, South Korean badminton star An Se-young took an unusual step of criticizing her national team.
In media interviews at Porte de La Chapelle Arena, An had pointed to the national team staff’s poor management of her knee injury, which she had sustained during the Asian Games in October last year. She said the team didn’t take her injury as seriously as it should have, with an early misdiagnosis forcing her to play through pain for weeks. It was later 추천 determined that she would need more time to heal than originally thought. An went as far as saying she found it “difficult” to go on with the national team. Though she later clarified on social media that she wasn’t retiring from international competition, sources close to the player asserted that An had threatened to retire and withdraw from the Olympics as recently as May.
In a phone conversation with Yonhap News Agency Monday evening, An explained that problems with the national team program run deeper.
“I just hope that the national team will develop players more systematically,” the 22-year-old said.
She said she had been disenchanted with the national team system since she first made the squad in 2018.
“My anger has been the fuel that has helped me realize my dream,” An said. “I wanted to have my voice heard. In a way, that has been my dream.”
