Park Tae-Hwan: South Korea’s freestyle swimming specialist
Park Tae-Hwan is one of the most gifted and talented freestyle swimmers to have come out of South Korea in recent times. He has competed at the highest levels of international swimming, which includes the Olympic Games, World Championships, Asian Games and
the Pan Pacific Games. His aggressive swimming technique and fierce competitive spirit has earned him many awards and accolades.
Tae-Hwan is one of the few swimmers in the world who became Olympic Champion after just two years of their debut to international competitive swimming. Only a few swimmers have such talent and strength to compete and win at the international level in such
a short time.
At the age of 17, Tae-Hwan stunned the Asian world when he won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle at the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha. Moreover, he represented his country in all relay events and won bronze medals in the events of 4*100m freestyle, 4*200m
freestyle and 4*100m medley relay.
This helped in boosting his confidence for higher levels of international competition, as Tae-Hwan being the fastest South Korean freestyle swimmer who qualified for the Pan Pacific Championships the same year.
The South Korean youngster demonstrated wonderful technique in the short and distant events of freestyle, winning a gold medal in the 400m freestyle and the 1500m freestyle respectively and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle. With his aspiring performance
in the championship, he became the centre of attention in the swimming world.
Tae-Hwan qualified for the 2006 World Short Course Championships in Shanghai, where he ended second in the 400m freestyle and the 1500m freestyle events behind Russian Yuri Prilukov, who just out-touched Tae-Hwan.
In 2007, Tae-Hwan faced one of the greatest long distant Australian swimmers, Grant Hackett in the World Long Course Championships in Melbourne. Hackett was undisputed in his 400m and 1500m freestyle long course swim for many years, but Tae-Hwan turned the
tables, by comfortably defeating Hackett in a time of 3:44.30 minutes against his opponents 3:45.43. Tae-Hwan also defeated the Russian Prilukov, as he finished third just after the Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps in the 200m freestyle in a time
of 1:47.58 minutes.
Then in 2008 Beijing Olympics, the South Korean successfully earned a gold medal in the 400m freestyle event in an improved time of 3:41.86. Moreover, the 21-year-old South Korean, this time stood on the other side of the podium for the silver medal instead
of the bronze medal last year.
Tae-Hwan is famous for his strategic swimming schedule and extensive hard work. To sustain his world ranking among the top swimmers in the world, he worked hard in 2009 and stayed away from all the championships. Then in 2010, he made an astonishing appearance
at the Pan Pacific Championships, where he won a gold medal in the 400m freestyle and a silver medal in the 200m freestyle swim events.
During the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, he won three gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal. He earned gold medals in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle events and won a silver medal in 1500m freestyle behind China’s Sun
Yang. Tae-Hwan also won a bronze medal in the 4*200m freestyle relay, as a participant of the relay team.
2011 has witnesses some amazing swimmers from around the world competing in various international events, but Tae-Hwan has not made an appearance in any swimming championships. Tae-Hwan is going to participate in the USA Grand Prix in California before the
2011 World Championships in Shanghai. He will face his old rival Michael Phelps in the 200m freestyle once again before the World Championships.
It will be interesting to how Tae-Hwan manages to balance his fitness and recent absence from international swimming events to compete against some of the world’s top swimmers.
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