Olympic gold medalist permitted to wear her own shoes, for now

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Olympic gold medalist permitted to wear her own shoes, for now

Published: 15 Oct. 2024, 15:30 Updated: 15 Oct. 2024, 15:36

PAIK JI-HWAN
paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr

Korea's An Se-young competes in the badminton women's singles gold medal match at the 2024 Paris Olympics Monday in Paris on Aug. 5. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Badminton Korea Association (BKA) said Monday that it will temporarily permit Olympic gold medalist An Se-young to wear her own shoes.

“We’ve decided to make a temporary and limited exception for An’s shoes for the Denmark Open starting on Oct. 15 until we finish changing negotiation deals,” the BKA was quoted as saying by the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, on Monday.

The BKA’s call comes after the association has drawn criticism for forcing players to wear Yonex shoes provided through a sponsorship deal with the association. An has repeatedly said that the shoes are uncomfortable and give her blisters.

Lawmaker Min Hyung-bae forced BKA President Kim Taek-kyu to sit through a slideshow of images of An’s blistered feet during a hearing at the National Assembly on Sept. 24, which took place after the BKA was accused by An of mismanagement.

Kim told lawmakers that he would revise the rule forcing players to use equipment designated by the association when training or competing in international tournaments.

Under the current rule, players have no control over the shoes or rackets that they use, which can significantly impact their performance. Badminton and boxing are reportedly the only sports in Korea that enforce such a rule.

The BKA, however, did not say it plans to completely scrap that rule.

“We must respect the sponsorship deal with the national team, but we are able to partially, limitedly and temporarily revise it due to circumstances,” the BKA said. “We are doing our best to develop shoes that An finds satisfying.”

The rule forcing players to wear shoes provided by the BKA’s sponsor is not the only alleged problem within the BKA.

An investigation launched by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism into the BKA after the Paris Olympics has so far uncovered inconsistencies in funding, discriminatory practices within business leagues and evidence of officials breaking their own policies to receive kickbacks.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]