Park Tae-hwan, seen in this file photo, will be trained by a foreign coach for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. / Korea Times File |
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The Korea Swimming Federation (KSF) will bring in a foreign coach to train swimmer Park Tae-hwan for the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
The KSF held a meeting in Seoul Wednesday to discuss Park's training plan and schedule and came to the decision to recruit a non-Korean trainer.
"We and SK Telecom, Park's sponsor, plan to search for a coach from swimming powerhouses such as Australia, the United States and Germany,'' KSF executive director Jung Il-chung said.
"Although several non-Korean coaches have been brought to Korea in diving, water polo and synchronized swimming, it is the first time that a foreign coach will be hired for swimming.''
The foreign drillmaster will join the coaching staff headed by Roh Min-sang and teach Park, while staying at the Korea National Training Center in Taeneung, northeast of Seoul.
"The new instructor will focus on improving Park's turn and underwater swimming skills, seen as his weaknesses,'' he said.
Park became the first South Korean swimmer to win a gold medal at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne, Australia in 2007 and the Summer Olympics in Beijing, China in 2008. He also claimed three golds at the Asian Games in Doha, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2006.
However, he has split training between his sponsor's team and the national team, which have not cooperated in their strategy.
As a result, Park returned home from the World Championships in Rome in July without any medals and not even an appearance in a final. The disappointing result led to calls to import in a coach who can teach Park systematically.
The swimming governing body has set up a special committee, which includes a sports science researcher and a sports psychologist, which will manage Park, who will turn 20 later this month.
The committee said that Park would not compete at the East Asian Games, scheduled to take place in Hong Kong in December, and would make a decision on his participation in the Korean National Sports Festival, held in Daejeon next month, later on after evaluating his conditioning
Park, who attends Dankook University, will have winter training in overseas with the national team's long-distance swimmers in November.
ksw@koreatimes.co.kr
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