Kwak Yeon-soo is a digital editor at The Korea Times creating, editing and curating digital content for the newspaper’s website, mobile app and social media. She previously covered a diverse array of cultural, political and business topics.
Olympic athletes reveal they're K-pop fans, and stars reply to them on social media
Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin poses with her autographed BTS “BE” album in this June 15 photo. Screenshot from Instagram
By Kwak Yeon-soo
By Kwak Yeon-soo
This summer, Olympic athletes have not only grabbed the attention of sports fans but also that of K-pop fans as they share a sense of unity around their love for K-pop.
Shin Yu-bin, the youngest member of the women's table tennis team, who earned first place in the team competition, has revealed that she is a huge fan of BTS.
She carries photos of BTS members in her backpack and listens to BTS's songs such as “Dynamite” and “DNA,” when she warms up before her matches. On June 15, she shared a photo of herself holding an autographed album by BTS on her Instagram account with the comment, “I'm a successful fan.”
In previous interviews, the teenage athlete picked members V and Jin as her favorites, saying, “I have a crush on them. They're so handsome.”
In a screenshot posted on the fan community platform, Weverse, which shows Shin saying that she uses BTS's music to get pumped up, V left a comment saying, “Fighting,” in Korean with a thumbs-up emoji.
The 17-year-old Shin beat Luxembourg's Ni Xia Lian, the former world champion and the oldest table tennis player at the Tokyo Olympics at 58, in the women's singles second round match, Sunday.
Shin was introduced as a “table tennis prodigy” on several TV shows, including SBS's “Star King” in 2009 and MBC's “Infinite Challenge” in 2014.
Archer An San left a heartfelt message on Saturday, thanking MAMAMOO's Solar for supporting her. Screenshot from Instagram
Archer An San, who won two gold medals in the mixed team and women's team events, proudly shared that she is a fan of MAMAMOO. K-pop fans spotted An wearing a pin on her archery chest guard that resembles a MAMAMOO light stick.
MAMAMOO Member Solar returned the love by posting a message of support for An. “I'm going to steal An San when she comes back to Korea,” she joked on her Instagram account.
An was overwhelmed by the message and later commented, “I'm crying right now. I love you so much, Solar. I've been wearing this pin on my chest guard since 2017.”
Meanwhile, archer Kang Chae-young hinted that she is also a BTS ARMY fan club member, by saying that it was “too bad” that the songs by BTS that she requested were not played during the medal ceremony, after winning the gold medal in the women's team event.
Swimmer Hwang Sun-woo, who set a new Korean record in the men's 200-meter freestyle at the Games, revealed that he is a fan of BLACKPINK's Jennie and ITZY's Yeji.
The 18-year-old Hwang qualified for the final by finishing sixth overall in the semifinals Monday, and is set to compete for a medal in the finals today.