(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Aug. 3)

Swimmer???s Setback: Better Training Vital to Park Tae-hwan's Revival

South Korea's swimming star Park Tae-hwan could not meet the public expectations
for him to win medals at the World Championships in Rome.


Park, 19, failed to
qualify for the finals of the men's 1,500-meter freestyle Saturday, after failing
to advance to the final of the 200-member freestyle on July 27. He even suffered
the disgrace of being eliminated in the preliminary round of the 400-meter
freestyle.
His fans were disappointed by his poor performance. And Park himself felt
frustrated over his lackluster display in the competition. Regrettably, the
Olympic gold medallist failed to revive his glory in Rome. He had become the
nation's swimming icon by winning gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle and
silver in the 200-meter freestyle in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Park's performance is in stark contract with that of his rivals. Michael Phelps
captured four gold medals and Germany's Paul Biedermann and Chin's Zhang Lin also
emerged as new swimming stars. Some experts attributed Park's setback to his
insistence on wearing a conventional swimsuit instead of high-tech one. But his
real problem is not his swimsuit but how he has trained.
First, Park could not improve because he does not have his own drillmaster. He
said, ``The most severe problem is not having my own coach.'' How can any of the
world's top swimmers expect successful results without having their own trainer?
Second, the swimmer has had to follow two separate training programs _ that of
the national team and another with his sponsor team, SK Sports. He has had to
split time between the two teams since last summer. In South Korea, he worked
with national team coach Noh Min-sang. And under SK Sport's program, he worked
with U.S. coach Dave Salo at the University of Southern California. There was no
cooperation between the two, which led to two separate focuses in Park's
training.
Noh focused on the 200-meter and 400-meter freestyle, while SK Sports put more
stress on the 1,500-meter freestyle. It appears that finally, the two teams now
agree that Park needs one personal coach. And the search is now on for a
drillmaster that will be in charge of the swimmer's training at home and abroad.
Third, factional strife in swimming circles was also cited as one of the reasons
behind Park's collapse. This problem might be the hardest to deal with because
almost all sports have long been battered by infighting among different groups of
sports leaders and officials. This internal struggle has a negative effect not
only on elite sports but also at lower levels.
Fourth, local companies' excessive enthusiasm to recruit sports stars as their
advertising models serves as a stumbling block to their dedication their sports
in many cases. Some critics have begun to question whether Park's work as a
fashion model adversely affected his performance.
It is imperative that Park and his trainers concentrate on resolving the
above-mentioned problems to make better preparations for the 2010 Asian Games in
Guangzhou and 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. We believe Park has great
potential as he is still a young swimmer. Let's help him regain his fame with
better training and more support. Don't give up hope for him.
(END)