Cumulative Support Funds of 30 Billion Won... SKT Also Behind 20 Years of South Korea Fencing's Success

Team and Individual 'Gold Medal' Success
SKT, Over 20 Years as Fencing Association President Company
Focused on Athlete Training and Local Adaptation Support

Taeguk fencers are making a strong impact at the 2024 Paris Olympics, drawing attention to SK Telecom, which has played a supportive role in South Korean fencing.

Korean fencing national team athletes attending the 'Team SK' send-off ceremony on June 29, showing their determination. From the left, athlete Gu Bon-gil, athlete Song Sera, athlete Oh Sang-wook, and Oh Kyung-sik, SKT Sports Marketing Manager (Vice President).
[Photo by SKT]

On the 1st, South Korean fencing won the gold medal in the men's sabre team event (Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-wook, Park Sang-won, Do Kyung-dong), achieving the remarkable feat of winning three consecutive Olympic titles.

Earlier, on the 28th of last month, Oh Sang-wook won the gold medal in the men's sabre individual event. Oh Sang-wook swept gold in both the individual and team sabre events, becoming the first South Korean fencer to win two Olympic gold medals. In addition, South Korean fencing performed well at the Olympics held in France, the 'fencing homeland,' with Choi Se-bin placing 4th in the women's sabre individual event and the women's ?p?e team finishing 5th.

Since becoming the president company of the Korea Fencing Federation in 2003, SKT has supported the improvement of performance and expansion of the fencing sport base for over 20 years. The cumulative amount SKT has supported through the Korea Fencing Federation and others reaches approximately 30 billion KRW. SKT has focused on supporting national team athletes' overseas training camps and international competitions.

Player Oh Sang-wook is attending the 'Team SK' departure ceremony on June 29 and answering questions from the press.

SKT and the federation prepared and implemented a systematic support plan in three stages for this Paris Olympics.

First, they enhanced practical skills through pre-simulation training. They created a piste (competition strip) at the Jincheon National Training Center with the same specifications as the Olympic venue, and ensured training under identical conditions including crowd cheers and stadium lighting.

A dedicated team, including seven training partner athletes, was dispatched to the local site, and additional performance analysts were assigned to support performance improvement.

Two medical trainers were dispatched to manage athletes' conditions 24 hours a day, and daily lunch boxes were delivered from a Korean restaurant near the Champs-?lys?es in Paris so that athletes could eat familiar Korean food. Earlier this year, a hotel near the Olympic fencing venue was secured to serve as the base camp for the South Korean fencing team.

Choi Se-won, former SK Networks chairman and current president of the Korea Fencing Federation, also visited Paris to cheer and encourage the South Korean team. Since taking office as federation president in 2018, Chairman Choi has led efforts to strengthen fencing competitiveness.

At the 'Team SK' send-off ceremony held just before the competition, Oh Sang-wook said, “I am always grateful to SKT for enabling me to participate in various major overseas competitions without worries.”