Regarding the fact that Viktor Ahn (Korean name Ahn Hyeon-soo), a former national short tracker who has been naturalized as a Russian, is seeking to return as a coach for the ice team at Seongnam City Hall, the Korea Skating Instructors Federation said, “Looking at the short track coach recruitment process in Seongnam City, there are one or two concerns. No,” he said in opposition.
The Skating Leaders Federation said in a statement on the 13th, “Recently, Viktor Ahn and Kim Seon-tae applied for coaching at Seongnam City Hall.”
The federation said, “At the time of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, when former President Moon Jae-in visited the training ground for encouragement, Shim Seok-hee, who was absent due to assault damage, concealed the fact that he could not come out with a cold, and the person who made a false report was Kim Seon-tae.” The athlete’s assault and sexual assault damages were revealed immediately after the Olympics, and he was severely punished by the Skating Federation by suspending his qualifications as a leader.”
“Another applicant, Viktor Ahn, gave up his Korean nationality and naturalized as a Russian citizen, and when the controversy arose about betraying his country, he explained, ‘I knew dual citizenship would be possible. However, it was later revealed that he received the pension as a lump sum right before naturalization,” he argued.
The federation said, “These two chose the Chinese national team instead of self-restraint when domestic leadership activities became difficult. During the Beijing Olympics, Kim Seon-tae even left a stain on the spirit of the Olympics by spitting out the words, “Judgments are made by referees,” when suspicions arose that China won medals due to biased judgment. It cannot go beyond fairness, which is the top priority in sports.”
The federation said, “The reason Korean ice skating has lost trust from the public is not because of silk performance. This is because they have covered up crimes rooted in the ice skating world, such as sexual violence and assault, with all sorts of lies under the name of grades,” he said. .
The federation said to Seongnam City Hall, who had Viktor Ahn participate in the coach interview, “Seongnam City is the mecca of ice skating in Korea. By appointing a coach that meets the public’s eye level, the Korean ice skating rink must become a stepping stone to regain public trust and move forward,” he said. ” he said.
On the 19th of last month, Seongnam City Hall issued an announcement to select one coach for the ice team. Here, seven people applied, including Victor Ahn and former coach Kim Seon-tae, who served as the Chinese national team command tower at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Victor Ahn attended the interview held at Seongnam City Hall on the 12th after receiving notification of the document acceptance from Seongnam City Hall.
Seongnam City will announce the successful candidates on the 31st.
Viktor Ahn, a naturalized Russian national, drew attention by winning three gold medals at the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics while playing for the Korean national team. In 2011, when Seongnam City Hall, the team he belonged to at the time, disbanded the ice team due to financial problems, he became a naturalized Russian citizen to continue his career as an athlete and won three gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
However, after Russia’s national doping problem broke out and participation in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics was canceled, Viktor An announced his retirement as an athlete and served as a coach for the Chinese national team at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. After the Beijing Olympics, Victor Ahn received a four-year long-term contract offer from another overseas team, but he declined and returned to Korea.
Donga.com reporter Jaeho Choi [email protected]
