Lee Jae-myung: "The Olympics Created by the Super Cool MZ Generation Didn't Only Remember the First Place"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, said that watching the South Korean MZ generation act cool even when they did not win medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics showed that the old Olympic era of only remembering first place has disappeared. He promised that if he becomes president, he will join forces with the MZ generation to reject a world that only remembers first place and create a new Republic of Korea.

The MZ generation is a combined term for the Millennial (M) generation born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s and the Z generation born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.

On the 8th, after the closing ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Lee posted on Facebook an article titled "The Cool MZ Generation Created an Olympics That Did Not Only Remember First Place," saying, "As always, the triumph of gold medals and the human stories of the athletes are touching and deserve applause," but added, "However, there was a part I paid special attention to in this Olympics."

He continued, "In this Olympics, it was hard to find the 'sorry silver medal, the sorrow of no medal' anymore," and "Many athletes were happy just to show the results of their hard work and sweat at the Olympics, even if they did not win medals, and enjoyed it."

Furthermore, he said, "(This appearance) was refreshing, and I thought it might be the true nature of the MZ generation," adding, "Every word from the MZ generation national representatives resonated more deeply than medals."

He then introduced the quotes from the athletes who 'gave' him this resonance.

Lee first praised, "25-year-old high jumper Woo Sang-hyeok, who placed 4th, said, 'I am happy to be able to jump high.' He broke the Korean record, and the difference with the bronze medalist was only 2 cm."

He also said, "18-year-old Hwang Sun-woo, who reached the Olympic freestyle 100m final for the first time in 65 years, set an Asian record, and achieved six records including the 200m Korean record, was cool," introducing Hwang’s interview quote, "There is no moment I want to go back to because I finished the race without regrets."

Lee added, "The Korean rugby team, which placed 12th out of 12 teams, said, 'We are just happy to be able to show ourselves to the people,'" and "Archer Kim Woo-jin, who scored a perfect 10 in all nine shots in the round of 16 but was eliminated in the quarterfinals, said, 'It’s disappointing, but that’s life. How can there only be happy endings?'" praising it as a "quote-worthy medal."

He said, "The Korean women’s basketball team, which finished the Olympics with three losses in three games, was confident and cool," and "The team’s star player, 1998-born Park Ji-su, calmly reported the defeat, saying, 'When I actually opened the lid, I thought it was nothing special.'"

Lee said, "Perhaps we have been watching the Olympics from the perspective of 'kkondae' (old-fashioned authority figures). There was a time when it was taken for granted that we must win medals, and if we didn’t, we felt sorry to the people," adding, "The MZ generation national representatives who prepare hard, compete with their best efforts, and fully accept the results are therefore refreshing."

He also emphasized, "The MZ generation themselves are rejecting a society that only remembers first place," and "The pride and confidence of the MZ generation will be the driving force to further develop our society, and I look forward to a new Republic of Korea created together with the MZ generation. A society where the process is as important as the result?that is the world Lee Jae-myung wants to create."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.