Kim Seo Young, from the department of sports at KIU, fought well and with a challenging spirit in the Rio Olympics.

“I did my best. I do not have any regret. I will make it to the finals in both events of the individual medley.”

Kim Seo Young, from the department of sports at KIU, was a member of the national swimming team in the Rio Olympics in Brazil, came to visit her advisor, Kim Kyungo, and expressed a determined resolution.

Kim, who has 2 straight appearances in the Olympic Games after the London Olympics, has the Korean national record in both the 200 and 400 meter individual medley.

Kim went to the semifinals in the 10th with the record of 2minutes, 11 seconds 75, which was the same as in the Korean national games in 2014. However, in the semifinals, she failed to qualify for the finals where only the top 8 players were supposed to advance, in the 6th of the 1st group and the shared 12th of all 16 players, with a time of 2 minutes, 12 seconds 15.

With great determination in the Olympic swimming trials, she was expected to be the third Korean swimmer to make the final event ever after Park Tae Hwan and Nam You Ri.

Kim said “it was physically demanding to have a contest at night after making the best record in the trials”, in terms of her failure in not making the finals. The semifinal was held at 11:46 at night (local time). She didn’t have a lot of experience and would be hard to make it. She felt it was much more difficult because she had already did her best to set the Korean record with a desperate effort.

Generally, the trials in the international swimming race begin at 10 in the morning and the finals around 6 in the evening. However, in the Rio Olympics, the trials began at 1 in the afternoon and the finals were at 10 at night. It is because the IOC tried to satisfy the host broadcaster’s demands considering the viewers in the United States.

Nevertheless, she said “I did my best. I do not have any regret. I learned a lot from my experience and it will be helpful when preparing for the next race.” and “I felt lots of things when I saw the others playing, such as being mentally prepared.”

Kim, who is the strongest in the women’s individual medley, fought well and with a challenging spirit as a member of KIU, brightening her prospects at the next Olympics, although she failed to be in medal contention.

Her advisor Kim said “it means a lot to do her best in competing with the world’s strongest players on such a big stage as the Olympics, with or without a medal” and requested her to do her best in her campus life for a new life as a member of society after retirement as well as a swimmer.