Sports Stars to Come to the Gwangju Universiade

If you are curious about who may become the stars of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, then pay attention to the Gwangju Universiade. Sports fans and experts will be focusing their attention on the Universiade next year, since it is widely considered to be the cradle of the next generation of sports stars. Thus does expectation for the Games continue to grow.

Who will participate in the Gwangju Universiade? Around 14,000 athletes from around 170 countries are expected to take part in the event, some of whom are already well-recognized sports stars. Special attention is currently focused on athletes participating in the Incheon Asian Games this September, as they have the potential to take part in the Gwangju Universiade.

Among the Korean athletes who are expected to participate in the Gwangju Universiade are Son Yeon-jae and Yang Hak-seon, rising gymnastics stars. Both athletes are in fact promotional ambassadors for the Gwangju Universiade. Son won a gold medal in Women’s All-Round Gymnastics during the Asian Championship and a silver medal in the ball at the Kazan Universiade. She also placed 5th in Women’s All-Round Gymnastics in the London Olympics. These achievements made her a representative athlete for gymnastics in Korea; winning medals in nine consecutive world cup series and ranking fifth in last year’s world championship has cemented that her reputation.

Yang, a Gwangju-based athlete, was a gold medalist in the long horse competition at the London Olympics. He also won gold medals at the Kazan Universiade and the Antwerp World Championship with his self-developed skill, the “Yanghakseon.” As his records in ring and floor exercises improve, Yang has been training very hard to live up to expectations that he will win a medal in the men’s all-round gymnastics of the Incheon Asian Games. Competition between Yang and Uchimura Kohei – a Japanese gold medalist in London’s men’s all-round gymnastics – is expected because there is a high possibility that Uchimura will also participate in the Incheon Asian Games. It should be quite the showdown: Uchimura won the men’s all-round gymnastics competitions in three consecutive world championships from 2009 to 2011, a first in the history of the competition.

Swimmer Park Tae-hwan, who was unable to participate in the Kazan Universiade, is scheduled for a tough race with China’s Sun Yang at the Incheon Asian Games. It is possible their rivalry will continue at the Gwangju Universiade. Even though Park was defeated by Sun at the London Olympics, a win by Park at Incheon would allow him to lay claim to status of “marine boy of the world”. Many fans are looking forward to seeing him compete at the Gwangju Universiade as well.

Also attracting attention is Wie Wenjun, a world-class athletics star from China. Xie Wenjun, the “new yellow bullet”, won a gold medal in the men’s 110 meter hurdles with a record of 13.23 seconds in the Diamond League during this year’s 2nd IAAF competition. Xie Wenjun is seen as the successor of Liu Xiang, a gold medalist in the 2004 Athens Olympics and the pride of China. Xuechang Lui in the men’s pole vault and Wang Jiannan in the men’s long jump are also seen as rising stars of Chinese athletics.

It is expected that we will see some athletes at the Universiade who have yet to become known, but will become tomorrow’s stars. The Universiade has served as an honorable cradle for future global leaders and sports stars. Hong Myeong-bo, the head coach of the Korean national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil (1991 Sheffield Universiade); An Jeong-hwan, a soccer player who played a remarkable role in the 2002 World Cup (1997 Sicily Universiade); Hwang Yeong-jo, a gold medalist in the marathon in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (1991 Sheffield Universiade); and Yeo Hong-cheol, a silver medalist in the gymnastics competition in the Atlanta Olympics (1991 Sheffield Universiade) are just some examples of athletes who shot to stardom after taking part in the Universiade. Who among the new crop of contestants will join them?

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