Ryu vows to improve athletes' welfare

Ryu Seung-min

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Ryu Seung-min, the table tennis gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, recalled that winning the hearts and minds of athletes to clinch a seat in the international sports body was far tougher than standing atop the Olympic podium.

“Imagine that you are a candidate running for election and your constituents are people from all parts of the world. Their cultures are different and they use different languages,” said the newly elected Athletes’ Commission member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in an interview with The Korea Times. “You have only 25 days to rally support from the athletes. During that period, you have to convince them that you are the right one to represent their interests. It was a mission that was tough.”

On Aug. 19, Ryu was elected as one of the four Olympians to replace the same number of outgoing IOC Athletes’ Commission members, including Olympic gold medalist-turned-lawmaker Moon Dae-sung.

Ryu won 1,544 votes, becoming the runner-up following German fencer Brita Heidemann who won 1,603 votes out of 5,815. The two other Olympians elected were Daniel Gyurta from Hungary and Russian athlete Yelena Isinbayeva.

The new members of the Athletes’ Commission will give their viewpoints on key decisions inside the IOC, including evaluating candidate cities to host the Olympics.

Ryu’s successful bid for membership came despite persistent domestic skepticism after he declared his intentions last year. Those familiar with the election said that Ryu was a lesser-known figure on the international sports scene and this could have hampered his chances to win the election.

However, Ryu said he built confidence in his candidacy after arriving in Rio de Janeiro.

“I found a subtle gap between what people in Korea said about my candidacy and the atmosphere that I felt while campaigning for the election in the Olympic Village,” he said. “I met many athletes to ask for their support and realized that being elected to the IOC post might not be a distant dream. If I successfully appealed to the hearts and minds of the athletes, I thought I could make it because they are the people who elect their representatives.”

Ryu tried to convince 11,000 athletes from 206 countries that he was the right candidate to represent their best interests in the IOC. He pledged to devote his eight-year term to improving the overall welfare of athletes. He campaigned for over 14 hours every day during the 25 days.

His down-to-earth campaign won over the athletes. The election results came as a surprise to many Koreans, with some media outlets calling Ryu’s rise to the key IOC post “a come-from-behind victory.”

However, the gold medalist said the election results were neither luck nor a miracle. He said he had been preparing for the election for almost a year after the IOC officially unveiled the list of 24 candidates last year.

“My parents and my wife knew how desperate I was while preparing for the election,” he said. “I wouldn’t run in the election if I cared only for my personal interests. I was eager to represent the athletes in the IOC. I had 25 years of experience as an athlete and later a coach and thought that there were certainly more roles that I could play for my fellow athletes.”

His short-term goal is to work together with fellow members as well as those involved in the Winter Olympic Games to create the best possible sports infrastructure for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018.

“I know this is not something that I can do by myself,” he said. “I will work closely with those who are involved in the Winter Olympics.”

Ryu said the Rio Olympics were special to him not only because he won the election but also because he experienced the maturity of Korean athletes and Olympic fans.

He praised the Korean team for demonstrating the true Olympic spirit during the Rio Olympics, denying criticisms that the Korean team’s Rio Olympic performance was disappointing. Team Korea won nine gold medals, one shy of the goal of 10.

“I know there are some who criticized the athletes for failing to reach the so-called 10-10 goal. I think it’s unfair to criticize the athletes simply because the number of medals they won falls below what they had set out for,” he said.

“We finished in 8th place. We won nine gold medals, which is great. I think our team did a fantastic job in Rio. We witnessed the true Olympic spirit. Some athletes overcame their injuries and competed to the end. Some showed respect for their opponents after they lost their matches.”

He said Korean fans had matured, too. “They cheered for the athletes who didn’t get medals. I remember the headline of an Olympic story which read, ‘We lost but the entire match was fantastic.’ I like the way the Korean people enjoyed the Olympics.”