Park Tae-hwan Named MVP of Sports Festival
By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
Swimmer Park Tae-hwan was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National Sports Festival.
In a media poll held Thursday, the final day of the annual sports event, Park, who is representing the Seoul team, received seven votes out of 12 to win the award for the second straight year.
Long jumper Kim Deok-hyeon, who set a South Korean record of 8.13 meters, finished second after garnering five votes.
Park, a 19-year-old who attends Dankook University, was also selected as the MVP in 2005, making him the second athlete to claim the honor three times, following retired weightlifter Kim Tae-hyun.
Since the prize was introduced to the sports festival in 1980, swimming has produced nine award winners, the second most of any sport behind track and field with 10. Weightlifting has produced five MVPs and archery four.
Park, who won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle at the Beijing Olympics in August, added his fifth gold at this year's sports festival in the men's 4x100 medley relay. It's the third straight year in which he's won five golds at the festival.
Earlier this week, Park, a renowned mid- and long-distance swimmer, set a Korean record in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.94 seconds, which is 0.03 behind the Asian record.