Lee Dae-hoon: From Taekwondo World Star to Athlete Commissioner

The first step in the dream of an administrator as an ‘athlete member’, the first gold joint venture of Korean athletes as a ‘leader’

There is an indispensable figure in Taekwondo, the ‘national flag’ that is growing as a sport for people all over the world. Daehoon Lee (31). He became the first taekwondo player to win three consecutive victories in the Asian Games, and also won three gold medals at the World Championships, which is considered the next level after the Olympics. It is regrettable that there is no Olympic gold medal, but the sportsmanship Lee Dae-hoon showed when talking about ‘beautiful losers’ in the Olympics is still talked about.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Lee Dae-hoon received applause after losing the game by raising the winner’s hand or giving a thumbs up. At the time of the Rio Olympics, Lee Dae-hoon said, “I didn’t feel good when my opponent didn’t acknowledge me when I won and my expression looked bad. Maximizing the joy of the winner is the duty and courtesy of a player.”

The adjective ‘Taekwondo World Star’ was attached to Lee Dae-hoon, who is perfect in his skills, personality, and appearance. And one of the things that Lee Dae-hoon was as busy as preparing for matches until his retirement as a player was taking pictures with other players when he participated in international competitions. It was not difficult to see players, regardless of nationality, approaching Lee Dae-hoon, asking for a picture, and taking a picture together. After the Tokyo Olympics held in July 2021, Lee Dae-hoon, who had been away from the ‘Octagonal Ring’ (Taekwondo Stadium) for a while after announcing his active retirement, held the World Taekwondo Federation (WT) 50th anniversary event in Baku, Azerbaijan from May 26, about two years later. , revealed through the 2023 World Taekwondo Championships. Lee Dae-hoon, who was appointed as the Taekwondo team coach of the Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall in March this year, came here as the national team coach. And he said he had other dreams too. He dreams of becoming a sports administrator.

Lee Dae-hoon, who recently expressed his aspirations to become an International Olympic Committee (IOC) Athletes Commissioner, ran for the WT Athletes Commission as his first step. He entered the trial stage not only as a leader but also as an administrator. Lee Dae-hoon, whom we met in Baku, said, “I didn’t leave Taekwondo. In the meantime, he has been studying hard, and when he returns to Korea, he is also about to review his dissertation on the 9th. He came to the scene after a long time, and he had a lot of friendly faces and said a lot of good things. He should also be on the field,” he laughed.

If there was a difference between Lee Dae-hoon and his active duty days, it was that he had become ‘extroverted’. To become a member of the Athletes Commission, he had to win the hearts of contestants who had the right to vote. At the place where various commemorative events related to the 50th anniversary of the WT were held, Lee Dae-hoon first approached and greeted the executives and leaders of each country to appeal to himself. Coach Lee Seok-hoon (44), who had coached Lee Dae-hoon in the national team until 2019 and visited Baku as an Australian taekwondo team leader, supported Lee Dae-hoon in fluent English.

When a world star first approached and said hello, officials from each country who couldn’t help but be happy talked happily and always ended with a ‘photo shoot’. Lee Dae-hoon said, “Even when I was active, I wasn’t the type to approach first. He has come this time and is doing something he never did when he was a player. When I approached the coaches and players first, they greeted me warmly and gave me a lot of good words, even though my English is not fluent. I also regret what it would have been like if I had done this right away.”

After the World Championships, Lee Dae-hoon at least achieved everything he had set his sights on. First of all, Lee Dae-hoon, who sat in the ‘second seat (leader’s seat)’ of Bae Jun-seo (23, Ganghwa-gun Office), who competed in the men’s 58kg class on May 31 as a leader, collaborated with Bae Jun-seo to win the first gold medal for the Korean team. On May 30, the first day of the competition, ‘signboard’ Jin Ho-jun (21, Suwon City Hall), who competed in the men’s 68kg class, only won the silver medal, but the next day, as soon as Bae Jun-seo opened the gold medal, Kang Sang-hyun (20, Korea National University of Physical Education) won the gold medal on June 1. In the men’s 87kg class, Park Tae-joon (19, Kyunghee University) won a surprise gold medal in the men’s 54kg class on the 3rd, raising the morale of the team. The Taekwondo men’s team has won four consecutive overall championships since the Muju Championships in 2017.

And on June 3, one day before the closing of the World Championships, Lee Dae-hoon was elected to the WT Athletes Commission, which he had hoped for. Six male candidates ran for office and the competition was fierce, with two selected, but according to WT officials, Lee Dae-hoon’s vote rate was overwhelming and there was no need to worry. It was the first time for all activities such as the leader and athlete commissioner challenges, but Lee Dae-hoon did well. Whenever there was a match, he lay in the waiting room with his national team members and watched Taekwondo videos, reading and encouraging them.

During the time when the players weighed in and voted, they stood at the corner of the street and quietly bowed and campaigned. Lee Dae-hoon said, “The time between weighing in and entering the game is when players are most sensitive. I’ve heard from his teammates that he hated making campaign noise during his playing days. Even if I was the only one (when I was a player), it seems that I did not film with antipathy to the candidate who made a lot of noise, such as handing out handouts.”

They greeted voters with ‘eye contact’ and asked to take a picture. When they approached, they took a picture and gave them a ‘gift’. This is the ‘Lee Dae-hoon Badge’, which was produced and brought directly from Korea. Lee Dae-hoon said, “When I saw the Olympics, athletes collected pins and exchanged what they liked. He thought that he had such a little fun, so he made badges and handed them out.” Lee Dae-hoon, who was the envy of the players in his days as a player, was soaked in the players with the ‘omniscient player’s point of view’, but there was no reason why he did not get an overwhelming vote in the vote.

After the election was confirmed, Lee Dae-hoon emphasized the word “for the players”. He said, “For example, during the weigh-in, players who are tired of losing weight sit on the floor and wait for their turn. I would like to make every effort to ensure that players do not have any inconvenience while playing in the competition venue, such as suggesting that more chairs be provided to eliminate even this small inconvenience.”

In this tournament, which was held to mark the 50th anniversary of the WT, Lee Dae-hoon’s ‘before and after’ competition was clearly different. During his short period of time, he improved his English and other foreign language skills a lot. When he learns something, he always learns by taking notes on a notepad. After getting acquainted with the faces of taekwondo figures from around the world, whom he had not paid attention to during his active career, the next time he approached him first and greeted him warmly. In the future, if the stride is widened not only in the world of Taekwondo but also in the world of sports, these are things that should be done as usual for more people. The first step of Lee Dae-hoon, who began to ignite the second act of his life in Azerbaijan, the ‘Land of Fire’, was successful.

Baku = Reporter Kim Bae-joong wanted@donga.com