Nam Yu-sun, the Indisputable Olympic Finalist

Nam Yu-sun (Seoul National University, second year), who made history in the Olympics’ women`s 400 meter individual medley swimming event by becoming the first Korean swimmer to make an Olympic final, won her second title of the match with the fastest record of the game.

It was at the finals for the women’s 200 meter individual medley held on the first day of the 77th Donga Swimming Competition, the opening meet of this year’s national swimming competitions held on March 28 in the indoor swimming pool of the Jeju Sports Complex, hosted by Dong-a Daily, organized by the Korea Swimming Federation, and supported by the province of Jejudo.

Nam, who made it to the finals for the first time in Korean swimming history with a national record of 4’45.16 in the women’s 400 meter individual medley event at the 2004 Athens Olympics, finished her round in 2’23.27 to win her second consecutive gold.

Nam, who kept up with her training and schoolwork after joining the Taeneung Training Center just this year in preparation for the World Championship to be held in Canada in July, said, “It’s been a physical strain to go back and forth from school (Seoul National University) to Taeneung,” and added, “The plan is to condition myself in pace with the World Championship.”

Nam will swim in her main event, the 400m medley, on March 30 to take on the challenge of winning two consecutive medals in two different events for two years in a row.

In the meantime, Suh Yeon-jung (Incheon High School of Athletes, second year), a long-distance favorite who was expected to break the national record in the high school girl’s 800 meter freestyle, failed in her attempt to break the current record of 8’50.51, the Korean record for the last 11 years since Jung Won-kyung set it in 1994 at a competition hosted by MBC, with a time of 8’54.07.

Suh had swum smoothly until the mid part of the event, but lost pace after the 700 meter turn, coming in short by 3”56 in breaking the record.

Swimming Matches:

200-meter Individual Medley

Women’s University = ①Nam Yu-sun (Seoul•Competition Record) 2’23”27

Boy’s Jr. High School = ①Kim Gun-oh(Daeheung) 2’21”19

Girl’s Jr. High School = ①Lee Su-jeong (Gimpo) 2’23”91

Boy’s High School= ① Park Beom-ho (Onyang) 2’09”83

Girl’s High School = ① Jung Ji-yeon (Kyunggi Phs. Ed. High) 2’22”99

Men’s University = ① Shin Hyung-su (Korea National Sports University) 2’09”83

Men’s General = ① Han Gyu-cheol (Swimming Federation) 2’07”96

Women’s General = ① Lee Eun-hye (Jeju City Hall) 2’23”21

Boy’s Elementary = ① Jung Hyun-wu (Sajik) 2’40”25

Girl’s Elementary = ① Song Jae-kyung (Taejeon) 2’32”54

800-meter Freestyle

Girl’s High School: ① Suh Yeon-jung (Incheon Athletes) 8’54”07

Girl’s Jr. High School: ① Cho Yeon-su (Aju Jr. High) 9’14”86

Women’s University: ① Cho Ah-reum (Daebul University) 9’03”02

Women’s General: ① Shin Bo-mi (Jeonju City Hall) 9’22”46

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com