[Asian Games] Korea's MVPs: Triple Champion Swimmer Kim Woo-min and Archer Lim Si-hyun

Korean Sports Council to Select First Ever MVP
Kim Woo-min, First Korean Athlete to Win Triple Crown
Lim Si-hyun, First Archer in 37 Years to Win Triple Crown

At the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, Kim Woo-min (swimming, Gangwon Province Office) and Lim Si-hyun (archery, Korea National Sport University) were selected as the 'Most Valuable Players (MVP)' of the Korean delegation.

On the 8th, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee announced at the post-event press conference held at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee Sports Diplomacy Lounge in the Grand New Century Hotel, Hangzhou, China, that Kim Woo-min and Lim Si-hyun were chosen as the male and female MVPs of South Korea.

Kim Woo-min, a national swimming representative who won three gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, is showing his medals after returning through Incheon International Airport Terminal 1 on the afternoon of the 30th. 2023.9.30 [Photo by Yonhap News]

This is the first time the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has promoted the selection of Asian Games MVPs among Korean athletes. The two players were selected through a vote by the press corps covering the event.

Kim Woo-min, a leading figure in Korean middle- and long-distance swimming, set a record as the first Korean athlete to win three gold medals at this competition.

On the 25th of last month, Kim Woo-min teamed up with Hwang Sun-woo, Yang Jae-hoon (both from Gangwon Province Office), and Lee Ho-jun (Daegu Metropolitan City Office) in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay final, recording a time of 7 minutes 01.73 seconds, winning Korea's first-ever Asian Games gold medal in a swimming team event, marking a smooth start.

Then, on the 28th, Kim Woo-min won the 800m freestyle final with a time of 7 minutes 46.03 seconds, and on the 29th, he also secured a gold medal in the 400m freestyle final (3 minutes 44.36 seconds).

On the 7th, Lim Si-hyun, who won the gold medal in the women's individual recurve archery final at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held at the Fuyang Inhu Sports Center in Hangzhou, China, poses on the podium. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Following former Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Yoon-hee (1982 New Delhi Games) and Park Tae-hwan (2006 Doha and 2010 Guangzhou Games), Kim Woo-min became the third Korean swimmer to achieve the feat of winning three gold medals in a single Asian Games.

Lim Si-hyun, the youngest member of the archery team born in 2003, won gold medals in the mixed team and women's team events with her teammates, and on the 7th, she defeated An San (Gwangju Women's University) 6-0 in set points in the women's individual final to claim her third gold medal.

Lim Si-hyun is the first archer in 37 years to win three gold medals at the Asian Games since Yang Chang-hoon (4 golds), Kim Jin-ho, and Park Jung-ah (3 golds each) at the 1986 Seoul Games.

It is also the first time in nine years since the 2014 Incheon Games that a gold medal has been won in the women's individual archery event at the Asian Games.

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