Ahn Se-young's phone call right after winning the gold medal was disguised as her 'first interview after returning home', a media manipulation

Ahn Se-young's phone call right after winning the gold medal was disguised as her 'first interview after returning home', a media manipulation

On the 5th, right after Ahn Se-young won the Olympic gold medal, a phone call from Yonhap News in Paris was disguised as her 'first interview after returning home', a media manipulation.
Yonhap initially reported the 'recent interview' at 7 o'clock on the 12th without revealing the date, and at 7:01, it reported an explanatory article titled <Age limit for individual athlete qualification' summoned by Ahn Se-young... Looking at the precedent>, and then each media outlet adapted the Yonhap's 7 o'clock report 'interview' right before the commentary into a 'Yonhap report on an interview after returning home' and continued to report on it in succession, such as 'Finally opening up, focusing on money issues', and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the formation of an investigation team and the 'abolition of the upper limit on the annual salary system' on the same day.
'Chosun' reported that <Ahn Se-young (22), who had criticized the Korea Badminton Association after winning the gold medal in the women's singles, spoke out. He pointed out that athletes should be able to receive fair economic compensation just for exercising. Ahn Se-young, who has been reserved even after returning to Korea, said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on the 11th, “Even if it’s not an advertisement, I think I can receive enough financial compensation just from badminton,” and “I hope they don’t block sponsorships or contractual matters and open up a lot.” She revealed that she would release it on the 12th after returning to Korea.
Ahn said in a panic when she returned to Korea on the 7th, “After the Olympics are over and all the athletes have been sufficiently congratulated, I will tell you my thoughts and position,” maintaining her statement from the medal award ceremony interview on the 5th.
On the other hand, it seems that the statement made by Yonhap and Paris over the phone on the 5th was reported as a “statement” on the 12th, and other media outlets reported it as an “official statement after returning to Korea.” The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced in a press release on the 12th, “We will comprehensively investigate not only the circumstances surrounding the insufficient injury management, doubles-focused training, and suspicions of forced competition participation that have been the subject of controversy due to the interview with national badminton player Ahn Se-young, but also the issues related to the system that have been controversial, and the actual execution and operation of the association’s subsidies,” deliberately avoiding the question of whether the ‘interview’ was an ‘on-site interview in Paris.’

The head of the investigation team of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Director of the Sports Bureau Lee Jeong-woo, stated that “listening to the voices of the athletes is the natural attitude that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and sports organizations should have,” limiting the investigation to ‘athlete complaints’ excluding the ‘investigation of the relationship between sports organizations and athletes’ raised by Ahn.

At a press conference upon his return to Korea, Sports Council Chairman Lee Ki-hong stated that “coaches have a great contribution to winning Olympic medals,” and that he would uphold the principle of ‘control of athletes by coaches.’ The sports organization structured by military rule relies on lower-level regulations that control the hierarchy of ‘bureaucrats-sports federation-association-leaders-athletes’, and has become fixed in an upper-level purification structure in which the delegates centered on association executives and leaders in turn elect the president and representatives, and the cooperative relationship with the media is solid in the ‘bureaucrats-sports federation’ chain.
The Yonhap continued on that day, saying, “It has been confirmed that the Korea Professional Badminton Federation is considering easing the upper limit on the signing bonus and annual salary for new players,” and “According to a comprehensive report from Yonhap News on the 12th, the federation is currently pushing forward with revising the player contract management regulations.” In the third installment of ‘Ahn Se-young’s determination statement’, ‘Yonhap’ reported on the 11th that <About 6 weeks later, Ahn Se-young, who won the gold medal in the women’s singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics badminton, poured out determination statements immediately after the awards ceremony on the 5th (Korean time)> and <In the interview with Yonhap News that followed, Ahn Se-young said, “I hope that any athlete in badminton, like archery, can win a medal at the Olympics,” and called for a systematic national team system. Ahn Se-young pointed out not only injury management, but also the national team’s training and operation methods, the decision-making system of the Korea Badminton Association, and regulations related to individual sponsorship of national team members and salaries of new players> and confirmed the ‘Mermaid Interview’ in Paris on the 5th.

In the fourth installment of ‘Determination Statement’, ‘Yonhap’ expressed it as ‘recent interview’, and other media outlets adapted it as ‘first statement interview after returning to Korea with a clear position’.
‘Korea Economic Daily’ reported that <Ahn Se-young opened her mouth after 6 days… "Was it a money issue in the end?" The reason for the mixed reactions [2024 Paris Olympics]> The title stated, "Ahn Se-young said in an interview with Yonhap News released on the 11th."
The JoongAng Ilbo stated, "According to a Yonhap News report on the 11th, Ahn Se-young said in a recent interview" in the title <Ahn Se-young finally opens her mouth, "Please release sponsors... Athletes should enjoy economic compensation">.
The 'Yonhap phone call' report, which was the basis for the media reports, is currently missing from searches.

Badminton is a representative example of a sports organization that has grown rapidly with 7.2 billion won in government subsidies and has been excluded from official external audits, with coaches directly managed by the association holding the players' existence in check and allowing arbitrary expulsion, and most organizations do not receive external control over government subsidies and sponsorships, and have players in a subordinate relationship with coaches, which has provided the cause for the neglect of violence by the coaches' predecessors.

MBC commentator Bang Soo-hyun, a gold medalist, said on the 9th, “The Badminton Association allowed Ahn Se-young to have a personal trainer for the first time ever,” and “It’s not like someone pushed the national team into it,” revealing the association’s absolute obedience system.

Lee Ki-hong, chairman of the Sports Council, appeared on a live radio broadcast on the 9th and responded to Ahn's press conference on the 7th, saying, "The doctor should say it was a misdiagnosis, not the person himself who said it was a misdiagnosis," and "Athletes are on the national budget, so they fly economy class, and executives often fly business class according to regulations," making "athlete-degrading" remarks.
95% of the Sports Council's annual budget of 450 billion won is covered by subsidies and contributions from the Sports Promotion Fund.

The Lee Ki-hong regime's player control leads to a structure in which the association places coaches as judges for representative selection, dominates the players and subordinates the coaches, and the association submits to the delegate system for the election of the sports association president.

kimjc00@hanmail.net

 

Bang Soo-hyun, Lee Ki-hong, obedience system, Government subsidies, player violence, National athlete, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Badminton Association, athlete control, Ahn Se-young, media manipulation, Yonhap News, interview, sports organization, Paris Olympics