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Korean Fencing Aims for Medals at the Tip of the Sword… ‘Leading Country’ Environmental Adaptation ‘Lee Sang-moo’
Korean fencing aims for medals at the tip of the sword… Gu Bon-gil, who is ‘not bad’ at adapting to the environment of the ‘domestic country’, says, “Local adaptation? No problem”… ‘Olympic piste’ used at the Fontainebleau camp as well.
"There is no problem with my condition.
I don't think there will be any problem with adjusting to the time difference or the local environment."
The eldest member of the men's sabre fencing team, Koo Bon-gil (Korea Sports Promotion Foundation), met with reporters on the 21st (local time) at the opening ceremony of the 'Team Korea Paris Platform', a pre-camp for the South Korean athletes, held at the French National Sports Center for Defense (CNSD) in Fontainebleau, on the outskirts of Paris, France, and said this. 안전놀이터
Koo Bon-gil said, "Coming to the pre-camp, it felt like Jincheon had been transplanted to Paris," and "They have created an environment where we can focus (only on training)."
Our country's fencing ace Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall) explained, "I am focusing on conditioning just like in Korea," and "I am focusing more on communication with my teammates."
Veterans Oh Sang-wook and Gu Bon-gil will compete in the men's sabre team event with Park Sang-won (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall) and Do Kyung-dong (Armed Forces Athletic Corps).
Park Sang-won and Do Kyung-dong are the 'young blood' who joined after Kim Jeong-hwan and Kim Jun-ho stepped down.
The national team is aiming for a third consecutive gold medal after the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Oh Sang-wook is aiming for his third consecutive gold medal in the team event and the first gold medal in the men's sabre individual event in Korean fencing history.
Koo Bon-gil, who was selected as the male captain of the team, is also brimming with confidence.
Koo Bon-gil said, "I was given the position of captain, but I think they gave me the position because I'm old.
I think everyone feels the same amount of pressure, but I'll take it all on myself," and emphasized, "I hope everyone just focuses on the game and does their best."
Along with Oh Sang-wook, another athlete who is being mentioned as a candidate for an individual medal is Song Se-ra (Busan Metropolitan City Hall) of women's epee.
Song Se-ra won a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and became the first Korean female athlete to win two gold medals in the individual and team events at the 2022 World Championships in Cairo.
Song Se-ra, who is aiming for a medal, has become more serious ahead of the opening of the competition.
She said that she wants to focus on improving her performance rather than attending the 'Romantic Opening Ceremony' held on the Seine River in Paris on the 26th.
Song Se-ra emphasized, "Rather than thinking about the opening ceremony, I will think about our game schedule first.
It is important to adapt to the local environment," and "I will use the training center (set up in the pre-camp) from today.
I will work hard here and focus on the game."
After hearing Song Se-ra's determined remarks, Koo Bon-gil added, "Our athletes will think of the day the game starts as the opening day."
The national team, which must compete against global competitors in France, the 'dominant country' of fencing, uses the 'Olympic piste' on the Team Korea Paris platform.
The fencing team made the Jincheon Athletes' Village basketball court resemble the Olympic stadium environment, including the Final Piste, before leaving the country on the 20th.
They have been conducting 'real-life simulations' from early on.
The training space in the Paris platform is installed in a large indoor track and field stadium, so it cannot be implemented to the Jincheon level because it must be used with handball and track and field, but the piste is made of products used in the Olympics, so the feel of the steps is at a real-life level.
The location is also meaningful.
The competition will be held at the Grand Palais, a historical building and museum in Paris built for the 1900 World's Fair.
The competition will begin with the men's sabre and women's epee on July 27th (local time), and the individual events will continue until the 29th.
Team events by event will continue from July 30th to August 4th.