Joo Jeong-hoon, who became disabled after using the cutting machine at his grandmother’s house, said, “My grandmother passed away after the Tokyo Paralympic Games.” “I will dedicate the gold medal I did not win in the Tokyo Games to my grave.”
Joo Jeong-hoon, Taekwondo signboard for the disabled
Joo Jeong-hoon, the national disabled Taekwondo representative, is being interviewed by reporters ahead of the 2024 Korea Sports Association for the Disabled national team training opening ceremony held at the Icheon Athletic Village in Gyeonggi-do on the 25th.
“I will definitely win a gold medal at the Paris Paralympic Games. And I will visit my grandmother’s grave with the gold medal and the beef she loved when she was alive.”
Joo Jeong-hoon (29, SK Eco Plant), a Korean Taekwondo men’s 80kg class leader, met with reporters ahead of the 2024 Korean Paralympic National Team training opening ceremony held at the Icheon Athletes’ Village in Gyeonggi-do on the 25th and said this.
He said, “My grandmother passed away a few months after the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. I heard she called my name before she passed away. I will definitely win the gold medal that I was unable to win at the Tokyo Paralympic Games for my grandmother at the Paris Paralympic Games.”
When Joo Jeong-hoon thinks of his grandmother, tears come to his eyes.This is because she was a grandmother who lived with guilt all her life.
Joo Jeong-hoon became disabled at the age of two.
He suffered a terrible accident when he put his right hand into a cutting machine at his grandmother’s rural house in Haman-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do.Afterwards, every time her grandmother, Kim Bun-seon, saw her son and daughter-in-law and her grandson, she cried, saying that she was a sinner.
Kim Bun-seon, who lived in tears her entire life, was diagnosed with dementia in 2018.And little by little he ceased to recognize his grandson.
Joo Jeong-hoon became a member of the national disabled Taekwondo team and won a bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics held in 2021, but his grandmother was not aware of this either.
After the competition, Joo Jeong-hoon visited his grandmother’s nursing home with his bronze medal in hand.
The grandmother still did not recognize Joo Jeong-hoon.
And a few months later, my grandmother passed away.Joo Jeong-hoon heard that his grandmother was in critical condition and rushed to a nursing home, but he was unable to survive her death.
Instead, I heard that he called my name.
Joo Jeong-hoon said, “I heard that my grandmother called my name. I was heartbroken.”
He said, “I took my grandmother to the funeral, but I plan to visit her ahead of the Paris Paralympic Games.”
He said, “After the competition is over, I will take the gold medal with me. I will also take the beef, which I always liked, with me.”
Joo Jeong-hoon is a representative figure of Taekwondo for the disabled in Korea.Joo Jeong-hoon, who first learned Taekwondo in the second grade of elementary school, walked the path of becoming an elite Taekwondo athlete, confidently competing with non-disabled athletes and raising expectations as a promising player.
He was hurt by people’s gaze and gave up sports in his second year of high school, but he started exercising again when Taekwondo was adopted as an official sport at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
He won a bronze medal in the men’s 75kg class at the Tokyo Games, becoming the first Korean athlete to win a Taekwondo medal at the Paralympic Games.
He became the first Korean player to win the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Para Games held in October last year.
Joo Jeong-hoon said, “During the Tokyo Paralympic Games, I prepared alone, but now the Korean Sports Association for the Disabled has given me a lot of support. I will win this competition and have no regrets.” 섯다