South Korea fencing team members Koo Bon-gil, Oh Sang-wook, Park Sang-won, and Do Kyung-dong are walking up to the podium during the 2024 Paris Olympics fencing men’s sabre team awards ceremony held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on August 1 (Korean time).
“After the quarterfinals, I got scolded a lot by my junior by 10 years.” This is the story that Gu Bon-gil (35, National Sports Promotion Agency), the eldest member of the men’s sabre ‘New Appangers’, told after winning the team gold medal on the 1st (Korean time).
Gu Bon-gil, who was eliminated in the first round of the individual event, did not have a good flow in the first match of the team event either. The coaching staff even considered putting in Do Kyung-dong (25, Armed Forces Athletic Corps), who had been saved as a hidden card in the finals, early.
However, the juniors gave their ‘eldest brother’ some more energy, but during this time, Do Kyung-dong got angry at Gu Bon-gil.
Koo Bon-gil looked back and said, “(Do) Kyung-dong said, ‘I’m waiting behind you, so jump one more time.’” After the quarterfinals, he got angry and said, ‘Why are you so insecure? Be confident.’
Hearing this, Koo Bon-gil made up his mind to “be confident again,” and after the semifinals, he returned to the Koo Bon-gil we knew.
Koo Bon-gil said, “After getting scolded by Kyung-dong, my performance improved. I felt like my spirit had been lifted,” and “Because of that, I was really confident in the finals.” Do Kyung-dong, who made a bold ‘straightforward’ statement to his senior, smiled and said, “(Do) Bon-gil wanted to give me confidence. I knew that my brother would do well if I trusted him.” It was an anecdote that allowed us to feel the strength of the ‘New Appangers,’ who showed off their overwhelming skills and became the first Asian to win three consecutive sabre team events in 64 years in Olympic fencing history.
Although they are seniors with a 10-year age gap, they can give advice to their juniors during matches, and the seniors are happy to accept their juniors’ advice. This is possible because they are fencing comrades who run toward a common goal before being seniors and juniors, and because they are close, open ‘hyung-dong’ friends. Do
Kyung-dong, who drew out his seniors’ ‘awakening’ in the semifinals and played the role of a ‘hidden card’ at the end of the finals, summarized the strength of the New Appangers in one word: ‘teamwork.’
He said, “We communicate a lot. We talk a lot because we are more like hyung-dong than seniors and juniors.” New Appangers’ ace Oh Sang-wook (28, Daejeon City Hall) had the same thought. He said, “Everyone is equal in fencing. It’s not an atmosphere where seniors give orders to juniors and juniors follow,” and “We all walked up to the awards ceremony with our arms around each other’s shoulders because we wanted to show that equality.” Oh Sang-wook, who won two gold medals in the individual and team events at this competition, also could not avoid the sharp advice of his juniors. Oh Sang-wook said, “I was a little shaken starting from the semifinals of the team event. I had a headache because I thought about this and that too much,” and added, “But my younger siblings told me, ‘You just have to do what you’ve always done,’ and after that, I found myself.” It’s not just the younger siblings who give advice to their older siblings. Experienced Koo Bon-gil and Oh Sang-wook gave a lot of advice to Park Sang-won (24, Daejeon City Hall) and Do Kyung-dong, who are participating in their first Olympics, ahead of this competition. Park Sang-won explained, “I felt a lot of pressure and had a lot of worries, but (Oh) Sang-wook encouraged me, saying, ‘You’ll win a gold medal soon, too.’ Those words gave me a lot of confidence. They were the background for me to do well in the team event.” 바카라사이트
