Beijing Olympic gold medallist swimmer Park Tae-hwan is interviewed at Incheon Airport after he arrived home from a six-week training program at the University of Southern California (USC) in the United States, Wednesday. Park is preparing for the upcoming FINA World Championships, to be held from July 18 to 26 in Italy. / Yonhap
By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
South Korean swimming star Park Tae-hwan returned to Korea Wednesday after six weeks of overseas training.
The 19-year-old swimmer went to the United States Jan. 3. to practice under the University of Southern California swimming head coach Dave Salo.
The stint was part of preparations for the International Federation of Amateur Swimming (FINA) competition to he held in Italy from July 18 to 26. He is seeking to defend his title in the men's 400-meter freestyle, as well as improve his record in the 200-meter and 1,500-meter freestyle event.
``I am very glad to see so many people early in the morning," said Park after arriving at Incheon Airport Wednesday morning to be greeted by a crowd of reporters and fans. "I have trained very hard and will try to keep my pace,'' Park said.
``I drilled my kick turn quite a lot as I took a long-distance practice in the short course. During this training I focused on improving my ability over long-distance. I also took practice for the short distance as well. I will put all my effort into producing a better record in both."
The Beijing Olympic 400-meter freestyle gold medallist, who is dubbed ``Marine Boy" was training alongside 1500-meter Beijing Olympic gold medallist Mellouli Oussama of Tunisia.
``I didn't speak a lot with Oussama because of the language problem, but he is a very modest even though he is a gold medallist. I learned much from him,'' Park added.
He also took time out to speak of his sorrow for fellow swimmer Michael Phelps, who has attracted widespread condemnation after an English tabloid newspaper published pictures of the Olympic record-breaker smoking marijuana.
``I heard the news while I was training," said Park. ``I felt regret at this accident. Whether he joins the London Olympics or not, I will do my best to achieve my personal dream. But his appearance will be much better. I hope he will back in good shape."
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