Current South Korean Olympic Squad Composed Of 5 Females, 0 Males

2016 DONG-A SWIMMING COMPETITION (KOREAN OLYMPIC TRIALS)

• Monday, April 25th – Friday, April 29th
• Gwangju Aquatic Center, Gwangju, Korea
• Meet Site
• Meet Results

As the 2016 Dong-A swimming competition came to a close in Gwangju, South Korea, we now preliminarily know who will be representing the nation at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Five swimmers, all women, earned their Olympic berths at the 88th annual meet, which doubled as the nation’s Olympic Trials.

21-year-old Ahn Se-hyeon qualified in both the 100m and 200m butterfly events, while Park Jin-yeong nabbed a spot in the 200m butterfly. Kim Seo-yeong scored a 200m IM event roster spot, as did Nam Yoo-seon in that same event, while Baek Soo-yeon earned a breaststroke berth. The ages of the female competitors range from Park at 19 to Nam who will enter Rio as a 31-year old competitor.

As a point of comparison, back in 2012 the South Korean Olympic swimming squad was made up of 4 males and 5 females who earned A cuts, so the nation is 4 short between the two Games.

On the men’s side, only Park Tae Hwan was able to snatch up FINA A cuts and he did so across multiple events. Recently coming off his 18-month ban for having tested positively for steroids in 2014, Park won the men’s 100m/200m/400m/1500m freestyle events, all within the Olympic Qualifying “A” standard.

However, as the Korean Olympic Committee is holding steadfast to its rule that athletes having served doping bans must also be subject to a 3-year Committee-imposed ban as well, Park, at least as it stands today, is ruled ineligible to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games.

National Swimming Team Coach Ahn Jong-taek says, “The ‘A’ standard directly reflects the current trend of world swimming. This means that Korean swimming is lagging behind the ‘A’ standard records that are getting faster and faster.”

He added, “However, overall it is fortunate that promising emerging swimmers and rookie swimmers have seen their performance improve.”