After a tumultuous last 18 months, 2008 Olympic champion in the 400m freestyle, Korean swimmer Park Tae Hwan, has officially arrived in Rio de Janeiro for his 4th Olympic Games appearance.
Fresh off winning his appeal with the Court Arbitration of Sport (CAS) regarding a controversial Korean Olympic Committee 3-year national team ban, Park and his Australian coach Duncan Todd kicked off the 26-year-old’s Olympic campaign with a practice in the warm-up pool. They reportedly practiced in the pool for just over 2 hours, with Park expected to get his first look at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium tonight. (Yonhap)
Park arrived in Rio after wrapping up a two-week training session in Orlando, Florida.
Park is set to compete in the 100m/200m/400m/1500m freestyle events in Rio, the same schedule he swam at his nation’s Olympic Trials in which he swept freestyle gold medals. At this time, however, Park is only ranked within the world’s top ten in one event. His time of 3:44.26 in the men’s 400m freestyle currently sits as the 6th-fastest mark headed into the Rio Olympic Games.
While on-site in Rio, Park told the press, “It’s not the easiest of circumstances, and I am still trying to adjust to the surroundings. I haven’t seen the main pool yet. My focus for now is on getting acclimated.”
I thought he was banned for 3 years by the KOC for doping? I guess his superstar power overruled the ban.
A little off topic, but where are all the base camps for each country?
I just read that UK sport spent £2million building a new facility in Belo Horizonte, just North of Rio, to base our athletes at before heading to Rio. They’ve even been so meticulous as to have laid a 400m track that is exactly the same as the one in the Maracanã. Did all that, then flew the T&F team over in economy. What is the bloody point in all that money, if you then can’t even bump 50 people up to business?
£2million… If our athletes don’t show up and produce a good haul, head will roll… It’ll be the savage cuts swimming saw post-London across… Read more »
I know the Aussies are already in Rio, but where are all the other nations based? Rio is quite isolated and I read there are only 2 Olympic sized pools in Brazil, one of which is in Rio… So where is everybody holding, USA?
Team USA swimming have just arrived in Rio, so I assume they are going straight to the Olympics village.
Do you think Park and Sun should be allowed to swim even though Russians who cheated and served their penalty can’t swim? (but they might be allowed).
Yes. The Russians should also be allowed as well.
The fact that Sun tested pos within the 1st 3 months of the ban & WADA did not take IT FURTHER needs to be addressed. Others have been given 2 year bans for exactly the same crime complete with admission & only 3 weeks into. .(Sharipova whi is not here either now ) .
Get SUN out of there…Park is OK..he did his time. Vlad hasn’t served his time he shouldn’t swim.
I agree.
Park has fully served his full term punishment.
Sun has not yet given or served any punishment. Morozov Lobintsev and comrades have not.
Lobintsev and Morozov never failed a single test and cannot be punished btw presumption of innocence, whether you like it or not
They failed a test as stipulated in the MacLaren report.
Really? Where did you see it in the report? There are some magical list that no one saw and some proves that no one saw. Why the list was never published? Why no one revealed any proves? The only thing we have is NY Times article and words like: we thinks, they might, supposedly, likely and etc.
WADA said the list of names of the athletes implicated in the report have been handed over to each Federation along with the report.
Even ROC do not contest the names which include Morozov and Lobintsev and Ustinova.
If you don’t trust all of IOC, WADA, MacLaren and FINA, shouldn’t you trust ROC?
By the way, I have ever read the NY Times article, but I have read MacLaren report.
So, it is now clear to me that you have misunderstood everything because you have never read the MacLaren report.
I actually have read the report. And it’s quite clear WADA has nothing on Lobintsev and Morozov
Park was not training in Orlando.. Park spent two weeks training in Jacksonville, Florida at the Bolles School
A Fun (but unofficial) SwimSwam Contest:
What color should Park Tae Hwan dye his hair?
WHATEVER COLORS CHEATERS ARE!!!!!!!>#$!!!!
brown. because he’s a peace of crap!!!
Hop off
USA won women’s 4×100 medley in London with the assistance of Brown-colored “piece” of crap swimmer.