Dramatic Joining of Wrestling 62kg Class Lee Han-bit North Korean Athlete Withdraws, Qualifying for Competition 8 Days Before Competition Sweating to Maximize Sensitivity Excellent Flexibility, Called Octopus-Squid Coach “We Will Take Each Match One by One”
Lee Han-bit, who will compete in the women’s freestyle 62kg class wrestling at the Paris Olympics, is showing her determination by striking a fighting pose before leaving Incheon International Airport on the 5th. Lee Han-bit joined the Olympic stage dramatically after North Korea’s Moon Hyun-kyung gave up her ticket ahead of the competition.
Eight days before the competition, I received a call that I could compete in the Olympics. The dream of becoming an Olympian, which I had always cherished since I started wrestling in my first year of high school, came unexpectedly. However, I didn’t even have enough time to be overwhelmed with emotion. He hurriedly prepared for departure and boarded a plane to Paris four days before the competition began. This is the story of Lee Han-bit (30), the only Korean female wrestler to compete on the Paris Olympic stage
. Lee Han-bit will compete in the women’s freestyle 62kg class wrestling event at the Paris Olympics on the 9th. This is the first time in 12 years since Kim Hyung-joo (48kg class) and Um Ji-eun (55kg class) competed in the 2012 London Games. Lee Han-bit is the fourth Korean athlete to compete in the Olympics since women’s wrestling was adopted as an official event at the 2004 Athens Games.
Lee Han-bit made it to the Olympic stage in a dramatic way. Lee Han-bit lost in the semifinals of the Paris Olympic Asian Quota Tournament held in Kyrgyzstan in April and failed to receive the Olympic ticket given to the top two. Was it because of the regret? After the Asian Quarter Competition, Lee Han-bit suffered from symptoms of partial paralysis of her body. In the end, she was unable to compete in the World Quarter Competition in May, and her dream of competing in the Olympics seemed to have gone up in smoke. However, with North Korea’s Moon Hyun-kyung giving up her ticket to the Paris Olympics, Lee Han-bit was able to step onto the Olympic stage as the second-place finisher.
Lee Han-bit, who enjoyed various sports since childhood with his two younger brothers who were soccer players, entered Seoul Lila Art High School, which had a women’s wrestling team, at the recommendation of his middle school teacher. Although he started wrestling late, he was in his first year of high school, but he had the natural talent and competitive spirit to stand on the podium at the national competition that year. Lee Han-bit’s strengths include being good at outside tackles and not giving up points to his opponents. Among the players, he is called ‘octopus’ or ‘squid’ because he is flexible and makes his opponents immobile.
Lee Han-bit, who chose to join a professional team after graduating from high school due to his family’s poor financial situation, began participating in international competitions wearing the Taegeuk mark in 2018. He won a bronze medal at the Asian Championships (65kg class) in 2018 and 2021, and also participated in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year. Lee Han-bit, who
arrived in Paris on the 5th with coach Yoo Bae-hee of the women’s wrestling team, is focusing on improving his sense of competition. Since losing his Olympic ticket, Lee Han-bit has been training with his team, not the Jincheon Athletes’ Village. He trained at the facilities set up in the Athletes’ Village in Paris and toured the Olympic stadium for the first time on the 7th. Lee Han-bit, who lost his mother at a young age, expressed his determination ahead of his first Olympic appearance, saying, “Mom, please pray a lot for me when I see you in heaven.” Coach Yoo also expressed his determination, saying, “I will be grateful for this opportunity given by heaven and take it one match at a time.”
Realistically, it will not be easy for Lee Han-bit to win a medal. However, he expressed his determination not to back down easily for the sake of Korean wrestling, which is in crisis. Wrestling, which brought Korea its first ever Olympic gold medal (Yang Jeong-mo at the 1976 Montreal Games), is losing its former reputation, such as having no medals for the first time in 45 years at the 2021 Tokyo Games. At this Paris Games, Lee Seung-chan (29) in the men’s Greco-Roman 130kg class and Kim Seung-jun (30) in the 97kg class finished the competition without a single win. 토토사이트