Gymnast Ryu Seong-hyeon to compete at Tokyo Olympics

Korea The Korea Gymnastics Association confirmed the list of men’s gymnastics team to enter the Tokyo Olympics on Monday. The association selected four athletes including three best rankers in the selection match held at the gymnastics training center of the Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, and one recommended by the association. 　

The first ranker in the match was Ryu Seong-hyeon (19, photo) who is a freshman at the Korea National Sport University. Ryu, the youngest athlete among 17 who went on to the final match, scored 165.95 points in total. His score is 1.3 points higher than runner-up Lee Joon-ho (26). The third ranker Kim Han-sol (26) was also listed up as an Olympian by scoring 164 points. 　

“Ryu is eyeing on the medal in the floor exercise where he shows his strength” said Shin Hyeong-wook, coach of the national team. “He may be young, but he is one of the world’s best athletes. I believe he is good enough to win a medal.”

Yang Hak-sun, the gold medalist in the 2012 London Olympics gymnastics, was included in the list by the association’s recommendation. But he is currently suffering from a hamstring injury and will be excluded from the list if he does not recover enough to display his skills perfectly before the final entry deadline on July 5.


leper@donga.com