Japan’s Kosuke Hagino was named the MVP of the Asian Games among all sports and all nationalities, thanks to his 7-for-7 medal performance in Incheon.
Hagino won four gold medals over the six days of swimming, topping the 200 and 400 IMs, the 800 free relay and perhaps most notably the 200 free, where he topped South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan and China’s Sun Yang head to head.
Hagino, ever-complimentary to his opponents, mentioned those two when talking about what the award meant to him.
“It was especially meaningful for me because I had a chance to compete with big-name stars such as Park Tae-Hwan and Sun Yang,” Hagino said on NDTV.com this weekend. “I’m already happy with my performance, but more thrilled to receive my first-ever MVP.”
Hagino won medals in all 7 of his events, adding a silver (400 free) and a pair of bronzes (100 and 200 back) to his four golds.
The last Asian Games MVP was Chinese badminton player Lin Dan, but the two previous winners were both swimmers: South Korea’s Park in 2006 and Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima in 2002.