Olympic Badminton champion Ahn criticizes federation, denies retirement rumors

A day after she shocked South Koreans with candid criticism of the country’s badminton authorities, Ahn Se-young said Tuesday that her words do not necessarily imply that she will retire and that she simply wants the national team to manage its players better.

“Please do not twist my words with the phrase ‘retirement.’ I just hope there are people who can contemplate what I have to say and set out to solve these issues,” the 22-year-old said via her Instagram account, regarding her comment during the post-game interview after the finals of the women’s singles badminton event at the Paris Olympics.

“I just wanted to talk about how players should be protected and managed, and discuss (importance of) communication rather than authority. I’m very disappointed that my comments have been turned into provocative headlines,” she wrote in the post. “This is a conversation about protecting the athletes, not waging a war against anyone.”

Ahn, the current No.1 in the women’s singles category of the World Badminton Federation ranking, had harsh words for the national team and its system after defeating He Bingjiao of China to win the country its first Olympic gold in singles badminton for either gender since 1996.

She said her injury last year was more severe than initially thought, but the national team did not take it seriously. Ahn said it was disappointing, adding it “might be difficult to go on with the national team after this point.”

Ahn’s recent comments were widely interpreted as hinting at her retirement from international competition, which she denied in the Instagram post. But it was reported in local media that the athlete had threatened to withdraw from the national team as recently as May.

In the Instagram post, Ahn said she was once again hurt by articles quoting the comments by the Badminton Korea Association and “the coach” — she did not specify who. It is unclear exactly which articles or comments Ahn was referring to, but the national team’s head coach Kim Hak-kyun mentioned that her comments appear to hint at “legal battles with the association.”

Kim said he persuaded Ahn to participate in the Paris Olympics when she wanted to call it quits, and that he had expected such comments from her since last year. He stressed that the complaints were toward the federation, not toward him, and that he has a good relationship with Ahn.

Ahn calls for an overhaul of the national team’s system

Ahn’s comments suggested problems with the BKA’s management of the knee injury she sustained at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games on her way to winning the gold medal in the women’s single event. A misdiagnosis supposedly forced her to play while in pain for weeks, and the injury took more time to heal than initially expected.

But Ahn stressed that her troubles with the association lie deeper than its alleged mismanagement of the injury, saying she hopes the national team would develop players “more systematically.”

In an interview with local Yonhap News, she said singles and doubles are clearly different and the players should be managed differently, with different sets of coaches and training programs. Ahn accused the national team of trying to steer them all in the same direction, adding double players have had the priority for training and treatment.

Ahn also raised issues with the inefficient training system while accusing the BKA of making unilateral decisions without the players’ input.

South Korea’s sports authorities have not released an official statement regarding Ahn’s comments. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Tuesday that it will conduct a thorough investigation on the matter after the Summer Games concludes, and revise the system if deemed necessary.

The badminton association also refrained from an official comment, saying the higher-ups had been notified of the situation. In an unofficial comment made to local media, a member of the BKA said that the association “did the best it could, sending a doctor of Korean medicine at the association’s expense. Which apparently was not enough for Ahn.”

Retired badminton player Bang Soo-hyun, Ahn’s mentor and the first Korean ever to win an Olympic gold medal in a singles event, expressed indirect support for Ahn as well.

She refrained from making specific comments on the national team’s supposed mismanagement of Ahn’s injury, saying she had no inside knowledge about the matter, but she believed Ahn should have had more time to rest after the injury. Bang urged people to leave Ahn alone to recover after the gold medal win, and said the badminton association does need some form of change.

“Frankly, there needs to be changes for our (badminton) association. I understand that Seo Sung-jae and Chae yu-jung had also been through a hellish schedule (leading up to the Olympics),” she said, referring to the mixed doubles badminton team of Seo and Chan who finished fourth in the Paris Olympics. “I think there need to be changes to better protect the players.”