Heo Hae-mi Makes History by Winning Gold at World Judo Championships: Eyes Set on Olympics

ⓒ JoongAng Ilbo/JoongAng Ilbo Japanese version2024.05.21 11:47

Korean resident Korean judo representative Heo Hae-mi (22, Gyeongbuk Athletic Association, 6th place in the world rankings) has defeated the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 players in succession, making it the first time for Korean women’s judo in 30 years. He won the gold medal at the World Championships.

On the 21st (Japan time), Huo Hajime competed against defending champion and world No. 1 Krista Deguchi (29, Canada) at the 2024 World Championship women’s 57kg final held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and scored a golden score. After a formal overtime game, the team won the match at 12 minutes and 19 seconds due to a foul by the opponent. The regular time for a judo match is four minutes, and it is rare for matches to last more than 10 minutes, exceeding the limits of physical strength. Overtime is a sudden-death game in which the first player to score points wins. This is the first time that Heo Hae-mi won the world championship. In the semifinals of this tournament, Huo defeated Jessica Klimkeit (28, Canada), who is ranked second in the world.

According to the Korea Judo Association, this is the first time in about 30 years that a Korean female athlete won a gold medal at the world championships, since Jeong Sung-suk (women’s 61kg class) and Cho Min-sung (women’s 66kg class) in 1995. It’s been six years since Cho Gu-ham (men’s 100kg class) at the 2018 World Championships for both men and women. The World Championships were seen as a prelude to the Paris Olympics to be held in July, and top athletes from all countries except Japan competed to test their skills. With this victory, Huh Hae-si is expected to rise to second place in the world.

Born in Tokyo in 2002, Heo’s father is a Korean citizen, her mother is a Japanese citizen, and her grandparents are from South Korea. Huh Hae-ji, who had dual citizenship with her, relinquished her Japanese citizenship on her 21st birthday in December last year. She is currently a third-year student at Waseda University’s School of Sports Science and is a descendant of independence activist Heo Seok (1857-1920). Kim Jeong-hoon, the coach of the Gyeongbuk National Athletic Association, revealed that Heo Hae-sil’s grandfather is the great-grandson of Professor Heo Seok.

With this, Huh Hae-sil’s chances of winning the first Olympic gold medal in her career have increased. Traditionally, world championship winners perform well in subsequent Olympics. Cho Min-sung and Jeon Sung-sook won gold and bronze medals, respectively, at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, the year after winning the world championship. Cho Gu-ham won the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Women’s judo has not won a gold medal in 28 years since the Atlanta Olympics (Cho Min-sung). There has been no gold medal in men’s judo since Kim Jae-beom and Song Dae-nam at the 2012 London Olympics. Heo Hae-si is the star who will be responsible for the revival of Korean judo at the Paris Olympics.

Heo Hae-ji appeared like a comet in Korean judo, which was in a slump. It took less than three years for Heo Hae-sil to reach the top of the world. Heo Hae-ji, who was a top prospect in Japanese judo, set foot on South Korea in order to keep her promise to her grandmother, who passed away in 2021. Her grandmother left her a will that said, “I want her to represent Korea and participate in the Olympics.” And Heo Hae-ji sorted out her life in Japan, and in the same year, she joined the Gyeongbuk Athletic Association judo team.

Heo Hae-sil proudly marked the Taegeuk mark the following year in 2022. Over the next two years, she won eight international tournaments, including this world championship, and became the ace of Korean women’s judo. Coach Kim Mi-jung (53) of the women’s national team said, “This is a satisfying result with the Olympics coming up.With this victory, Huh Hae-sil’s standing on the international stage will increase, and we hope that she will give a great sense of intimidation to her opponents at the Olympics.” Heo Hae-min also gained a lot of confidence.”

He continued, expressing his confidence, saying, “On the other hand, our rivals are putting more pressure on us, so we have to keep our guard up and work hard until the end.If we ride the momentum and prepare hard, I think we can get a good result.” Coach Kim Mi-jeong is a judo legend who became the first Korean women’s judo player to win an Olympic gold medal (72kg weight class) at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Coach Kim Mi-jung also won the 1991 World Championship, the year before the Olympics.

2024-05-21 02:53:11
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