Best Gold Medal Ahead of Elbow Surgery
[Asian Games] Best Gold Medal Ahead of Elbow Surgery… Gymnastics Prop Kim Han-sol
Kim Han-sol"s (Seoul City Hall) gold medal performance in the men"s floor exercise in artistic gymnastics at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games ahead of elbow surgery is likely to be one of the most brilliant moments in his life.
Kim Han-sol took the podium place with an overwhelming score of 14.900 points in the floor exercise finals of the competition held at the Huanglong Sports Center Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China on the 28th.
I performed a difficulty level 6.0 technique perfectly with almost no mistakes and received a practice score of 8.900.
She performed exactly as recorded in the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) technical scoring book, and earned a high score with a near-flawless performance that did not fall or move even a few steps to the side.
The Chinese athletes who won the silver and bronze medals performed techniques with a difficulty level of 6.0 to 6.1 points, but they were unable to catch up with Kim Han-sol as their execution score was only 8.333.
This is their second consecutive win at the Asian Games following the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
While playing as a key member of the Korean gymnastics team for 11 years, the number of medals collected at the Asian Games increased to 2 gold medals, 1 silver medal, and 1 bronze medal.
Kim Han-sol"s gold medal was even more valuable as he overcame the double whammy of his elbow injury and his first acting appearance in the final acting sequence.
Kim Han-sol has good jumping ability and clean acting, and has contributed greatly to improving the gymnastics team"s team performance in vault and floor exercises.
Currently, the first team of the national team, excluding Kim Han-sol, has been dispatched to the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Antwerp, Belgium during the same period as the Asian Games.
This competition has a ticket to participate in the team competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics, so the Korean Gymnastics Association sent its second team to the Asian Games and the first team to the World Championships to advance to the Olympic finals for the ninth consecutive time since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
Kim Han-sol, who is at the same level as first-team athletes such as Ryu Seong-hyun (Korea National Sport University), Lee Jun-ho (Jeonbuk Provincial Office), and Lee Jeong-hyo (Army Military Athletic Corps), who excels in all six men"s gymnastics events, unexpectedly entered the Asian Games as a "secondary" athlete. There was a variable called injury.
Kim Han-sol suffered from left elbow pain for more than a year after the National Sports Festival last year.
He was diagnosed with the need to have bones that were rubbing against each other chipped.
However, because major competitions such as the 2023 Asian Games and the World Championships, where qualification for the Olympics are at stake, were held, he could not get to the operating table right away.
Kim Han-sol played the game with a bandage wrapped around his left arm.
After winning his second Asian Games gold medal, Kim Han-sol said, "I thought it would be a big help if I went to the World Championships, but due to an elbow injury, I withdrew from the rings and bar events at this Asian Games."
“I was worried that it would break their morale, and I thought that my teammates might have a harder time, so I don’t feel disappointed about not being able to go to the World Championships,” he said calmly.
He then expressed his determination, saying, "I plan to have surgery right after this year"s National Sports Festival, but I want to complete my rehabilitation well and play in the Paris Olympics next year."
He then added, "If I train a lot, there will be a big risk of recurrence, but I plan to give it a try." He showed motivation.
Kim Han-sol is a veteran of the national team who participated in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He has both experience and skills, so if he recovers his skills after elbow surgery, he can be a strong support for the national team.