Short track Lim Hyo-jun interview was held at a cafe in Jamsil, Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 27th. Reporter Lim Hyun-dong
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Im Hyo-jun, 25, a men’s short track gold medalist at the PyeongChang Olympics, has been naturalized in China.
Im Hyo-jun’s agency Brion Company said in a statement on the 6th, “Im Hyo-jun has decided to naturalize in China.”
Hyojun Lim won the men’s 1500m gold medal and 500m bronze medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. However, in June 2019, he was charged with pulling the pants of a junior of the national team, A, to reveal the body part at Jincheon Athlete’s Village. Lim Hyo-jun, who was disciplined for one year in suspension from the Korean Ice Skating Federation, later requested a reconsideration with the Sports Fair Committee of the Korean Sports Association, but did not achieve his intention.
In March 2020, Lim Hyo-jun filed a lawsuit against the Korean Ice Skating Federation to confirm the invalidity of disciplinary action. In November of that year, he was acquitted in an appeals trial involving the alleged harassment. Brion Company said, “Im Hyo-joon spent two years having a difficult time with the so-called’sex harassment of same-sex juniors’, and not working on the national team with his team at all. I tried to apologize to the other player, but in the end, he filed a criminal accusation. “This case was found not guilty at the second trial, but the prosecution appealed again and is currently pending in the Supreme Court. As the trial and disciplinary period of the Ice Skating Federation lengthened, it became difficult for Lim Hyo-jun to carry on his dream of wearing the Taegeuk mark and going to the Olympics. “He shared the background of Hyojun Lim’s decision to naturalize in China.
Im Hyo-jun said through his agency, “As a Korean athlete, Hyo-Jun Lim wanted to go to the Beijing Olympics with the Taegeukgi and enjoy the glory of winning the Olympics 2nd straight, but he couldn’t even train anywhere in Korea, and as an ice skater, he only thought about how to exercise in skating shoes again. “He said.
Currently, the Chinese short track team is supervised by Kim Sun-tae, who led the Korean national team at the PyeongChang Olympics, and Victor An (Ahn Hyun-soo) joined as coach.
Reporter Ahn Hee-soo 
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