'Sports hero' Ha Hyung-joo “first judoka to be honored on 40th anniversary of Olympic gold”
'Sports hero' Ha Hyung-joo “first judoka to be honored on 40th anniversary of Olympic gold”
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“I am overwhelmed to be recognized as a 'Sports Hero' in the 40th anniversary year of my gold medal win at the 1984 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics.”
Korea's Sports Hero 2024 was recently named by the Korea Sports Council. In an exclusive interview with Yonhap News Agency on Monday, Ha Hyung-joo, 62, the executive director of the Korea Sports Promotion Agency, said he was overwhelmed by the honor.
Ha beat out “wrestling legend” Shim Kwon-ho, who won back-to-back Olympic gold medals (Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000), and Lee Hong-bok, who won two gold medals (individual and team) in cycling at the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo.
“I actually expected him to be my friend because he made a mark in Korean sports by winning two consecutive Olympic titles and the Grand Slam (Olympic, World, Asian Games, and Asian Championships) in wrestling,” he said, adding, ”I never thought of him as a sports hero.”
It was also meaningful for him to be the first judo player to receive the title of sports hero.
“There are many people in judo who are better than me, but the late coach Jang Eun-kyung, who has been at the helm of the national judo team since 1982 and was nicknamed the 'championship maker', was a true hero of our time,” he said.
A silver medalist in judo at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Jang led South Korea to gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics, the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul and the 1988 Seoul Olympics before passing away in 1996 at the age of 46 from an acute heart condition.
“If Coach Jang were alive today, 토토사이트 he would have been the first sports hero,” said Ha, adding, ”It is even more meaningful and honorable because of the hard work and dedication of those who created the defining moments of Korean judo.”
“I think winning the gold medal at the LA Olympics was decisive, and I'm glad that I was recognized for my efforts as the first generation of Olympic athletes,” he said, adding that teaching students at Dong-A University for 38 years was also rewarding.
In particular, he made a strong impression in the quarterfinals of the Los Angeles Olympics, when he pinned Japan's then world No. 1 Masato Mihara to the mat twice.
He went on to win gold at the Asian Games in Seoul two years later and is most proud of a photo he took with his teammates, who together won six of the eight gold medals in judo at the Asian Games.
In the photo, Ahn, who won gold side-by-side at the LA Games, poses with Seoul Olympic gold medalist Kim Jae-yup and team coaches Lee Kyung-geun, Park Kyung-ho and Cho Hyung-soo.
“At the Seoul Asian Games, it was one of the most decisive moments in the history of Korean judo because we won gold medals in six of the eight weight classes, all against Japanese athletes in the finals,” he recalled, adding, ”For me, judo was a religion, a faith, and a way of life.”
Ha, who also served as a joint torchbearer with North Korean women's judo hero Kye Soon Hee at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, is determined to do his part to help develop the sport in South Korea.
“After I was selected as a sports hero, I received congratulatory calls from many seniors and juniors,” he said, ”and I will do my best to upgrade K-Sports to the next level.”