La Défense is massive… Hwang Sun-woo “The bigger the court, the stronger I am, and I want to play faster”｜Dong-A Ilbo

The Paris La Défense Stadium, which will host the management events for the 2024 Paris Olympics, is massive.

The management team members who trained here for the first time on the 23rd local time agreed that the scale of the golf course, whether it is the main pool or the secondary pool, is larger than expected.

People may be shocked by the huge size of the stadium, but Hwang Sun-woo (21, Gangwon Provincial Government), a leading figure in the Korean swimming world, visited the stadium this afternoon and completed training. And the stands are also huge. “I think it is about 1.5 to twice the size of the ones I participated in the World Swimming Championships and the Asian Games,” he said.

He continued: “After the first training session, I am satisfied. The bigger the pool, the more power you have. “I like the visual effect of this stadium,” he said with a smile.

“I trained in the main pool and was light, so it was OK,” Hwang said. “I guess I just need to train with the mindset to keep it like this for the rest of the time,” he said.

This Paris Olympics is Hwang Sun-woo’s second time participating in the Olympics.

Hwang Sun-woo made his Olympic debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and performed well even if he did not win a medal.

In the men’s 200m freestyle preliminaries, he achieved a time of 1 minute 44.62 seconds, breaking the Korean record and the world youth record at the time. In the men’s 100m freestyle semifinals, he set a new Asian record with a time of 47.56 seconds and finished fourth in the final. It has been 65 years since Atsushi Tani (Japan) made his first appearance in the men’s 100m freestyle final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

After the Tokyo Olympics, Hwang Sun-woo grew into a world-class athlete. He won the men’s 200m freestyle medal for the third time in a row at the World Championships. In particular, he won the gold medal at the Doha World Championships in February this year.

Hwang Sun-woo, who is aiming to win his first Olympic medal in this competition, will compete in the men’s 200m freestyle preliminaries and semifinals on the 28th. The 200m freestyle final will be held on the 29th.

“It’s true that I have more time than during the Tokyo Olympics,” said Hwang Sun-woo. “When I saw the swimming pool, I was excited and the first thing that came to my mind was that I wanted to play quickly,” he emphasized.

There is a podium behind the main pool of Paris La Défense Swimming Pool.

“I thought it was cool,” said Hwang, who saw the podium during training. “I’ve thought about going there again,” he said.

The medalists of this competition will be awarded at a ceremony in the Parc des Champions at the Place du Trocadero, where the Eiffel Tower can be seen.

Hwang Sun-woo, who first learned the news through reporters, said, “I can’t imagine what it would be like if I went to a place like this,” and reiterated his determination to win the medal, “If I go, I’ll prepare a ceremony.”

(Paris = Nuesce)