"South Korea Doesn't Need You," Russian Media Sends Love Call to Ahn Hyun-soo

After Naturalization in Russia in 2011, Became Coach of China National Team
Seongnam City Hall: "No Successful Candidates, Practicing Without a Coach"

[Asia Economy Culture Intern Reporter Young] Russian major media outlets have urged short track speed skating national team alumnus An Hyun-soo (Viktor An), whose return to Korea was thwarted, to make a comeback.

On the 12th of last month, Ahn Hyun-soo (Viktor An) was attending an interview for the coaching position of the Seongnam City Hall Skating Team at Seongnam City Hall in Gyeonggi Province.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 1st, Russia's famous sports daily Sport Express published an article titled "Korea no longer needs An Hyun-soo, why don't you come back?" The outlet reported, "An Hyun-soo applied for the open coaching position at Seongnam City Hall's workplace sports team, known as Korea's strongest short track team, but was rejected," adding that his failure to secure the coaching job was not due to his ability.

An Hyun-soo recently applied for the coaching position at Seongnam City Hall, but Seongnam City Hall announced that no candidates were selected. The athletes will continue training without a coach for the time being, and Seongnam City Hall stated that plans for selecting coaches will be discussed later.

The Russian media analyzed the reason for An Hyun-soo's failed return to Korea as "he renounced his Korean nationality and acquired Russian citizenship, and because he coached Chinese athletes, Korea's biggest short track rival, Korean public opinion reacted negatively." They added, "An Hyun-soo can definitely be of help to us," emphasizing "this has been proven not only during his athlete career but also as a coach of the Chinese national team." They are suggesting he return to Russia as a coach.

Meanwhile, An Hyun-soo won three gold medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics and three gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, earning a total of six Olympic gold medals in short track speed skating. After naturalizing as a Russian citizen in 2011 and adopting the name Viktor An, he became the first in short track history to sweep all events at the Winter Olympics. He also served as a coach for the Chinese national team from 2020 until the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. There has been negative public opinion regarding An Hyun-soo's return to Korea. The Korea Skating Coaches Association even issued a statement declaring that he does not have domestic coaching qualifications.