“Please help the players to be with the coach they want.”
Korean short track signboard Choi Min-jeong (25, Seongnam City Hall) announced a position statement regarding the hiring of his team, Seongnam City Hall, as an assistant ice coach. This reminds me of Viktor Ahn (38), who was recently eliminated from the final interview.
On the 31st, Choi Min-jung posted on her social media account, “Hello, I am Choi Min-jung, a short track skater at Seongnam City Hall. Currently, Seongnam City Hall is in the process of openly hiring a coach. In the end, it is the players who compete. Please help me,” he appealed. 안전놀이터
In addition, Choi Min-jung also released a statement titled ‘Athlete’s Position on Coach Hiring’. It is a joint position signed not only by him, but also by his teammates such as Kim Da-gyeom, Seo Beom-seok, Lee Jun-seo, Kim Gun-hee, and Kim Gil-ri.
Through the statement, they said, “We are Seongnam City Hall Ice Team players. We are aware that currently our Ice Division is an open coach recruitment process with both coaches and managers vacant. We believe that this coach selection process is not based on outside influence. , above all, I think it should be done fairly and transparently.”
Then, “Seongnam City Hall’s ice rink is the team with the most former and incumbent national team players. In order to lead such a great team, I think that among the leaders, a coach with the best coaching and managerial experience, excellent competence, and communicative ability must come. To this end, I sincerely hope that the people involved will help me,” and asked for help.
Previously, Seongnam City announced a recruitment announcement for ice team coaches. In the meantime, it was revealed that Viktor Ahn (Korean name Ahn Hyeon-soo), who was naturalized as a Russian, had applied. Previously, he was eliminated from the national team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, and the following year, when the Seongnam City Hall ice team was disbanded, he became a naturalized Russian citizen and won three gold medals as a Russian national team member at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
After his retirement, he also showed potential as a leader. He helped the men’s 1000m and 2000m mixed relay gold medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as a coach for the Chinese national team.
Viktor Ahn tried to return to Korea through the coaching position at Seongnam City Hall, but was not selected as a finalist. Along with him, former coach Kim Seon-tae, who led the Chinese national team at the Beijing Winter Olympics, was eliminated. A total of seven people from Seongnam City applied, and Victor Ahn and former coach Kim said they were not in the top two multiple candidates.
It seems that the decision was conscious of the strong opposition public opinion. After being naturalized in Russia, Viktor Ahn, who had become the Chinese national team leader, tried to return to Korea, but there was a backlash. In particular, the Korea Ice Skating Instructors Federation even issued a statement against returning, saying that he had falsely explained that he knew dual nationality would be possible even though he received a lump sum pension from the Olympic gold medal right before his naturalization.
Did the players think differently? Amid speculation, top short track speed skater Choi Min-jung and other athletes at Seongnam City Hall openly appealed for help and protested against the decision of Seongnam City. What will be the result of the rain thrown by the players?