(Olympics) Badminton gold medalist says she’s not picking fights with nat’l federation

The Olympic badminton champion An Se-young insisted Wednesday she is not trying to pick fights with her national team or the sport’s national federation, after she’d leveled criticism against them for archaic systems and inefficient operations.

An returned home Wednesday evening from the Paris Olympics, where she captured the women’s singles title for her first career gold medal. Moments after the crowning moment on Monday, An took shots at the national team staff for their poor handling of the knee injury she’d suffered during the 2023 Asian Games in November last year. An also accused the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) of favoring doubles players over singles players like herself and of sticking to old training programs to the detriment of players.

The sports ministry and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) have both said they will look into the matter and determine where it all went wrong. The KSOC will recruit four outside experts, including a former police detective and a former inspector at the Board of Audit and Inspection. They will be joined by the KSOC’s in-house legal counsel and its chief auditor.

Surrounded by a large throng of reporters at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, An said her intention has never been to fight the national team or the association.

“There’s something I’d like to say. I don’t intend to fight anyone. I wanted to let people know that I just want to focus on competing,” An said. “I just got here, and I haven’t had any discussion with the association. I will have more to say later on.”

Kim Taek-gyu, head of the BKA, had told reporters that there was no issue between the association and the player, after arriving back in South Korea earlier Wednesday.

When told of Kim’s comment, An said, “Like I said, I just landed here, and I haven’t had a chance to go over anything.”

The KSOC organized a joint press conference for badminton medalists on Tuesday in Paris, but An did not attend. While the KSOC said An chose to skip the event, An told reporters at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport later Tuesday that she was told not to say anything about the ongoing situation.

An did not clarify whether it was the KSOC or the BKA that had put the gag order on her. Kim, the BKA chief, said he had never blocked An from attending the presser and he himself wondered why the player didn’t show up.

“There seems to be a lot of controversy with that, and I will not address that any further,” An said Wednesday. “I have not spoken with the BKA or the national team staff. I will only be able to say more after I speak with them first.”

In response to An’s criticism, the BKA announced Wednesday it will form a fact-finding body and speak with the national team coaching staff and players.

“We will try to ensure such an important athlete in South Korean sports will not leave the national team,” the BKA said in a statement. “We will listen to what An Se-young has to say with an open mind, identify problems and take necessary action.”

The BKA said it will launch an investigation into the national team’s overall operations and training programs.

The BKA acknowledged that an initial misdiagnosis of An’s condition led to her playing through pain late last year, though it also argued that its doctors had tried to keep An on the sidelines but the player herself wanted to play.

An said Monday she hoped the BKA would let her play at the 2028 Olympics even if she isn’t on the national team, but the association said doing so would go against its own rules.

According to the BKA, only female players over 27 and male players over 28, with at least five years of prior national team experience, may compete at international events without being on the national team.

An will be 26 by the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“If we don’t follow the rules, then it could lead to a mass exodus of players from the national team,” the BKA said. “The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has the final say in Olympic eligibility for athletes, and we can’t arbitrarily determine players’ status.”

The BKA also argued that it never forced An not to attend Tuesday’s press conference in Paris.