They didn’t let the champion in height in the hall in Prague. Where did the problem occur?
He is a hot name in world athletics. Korean high lifter Sanghyeok Woo won the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade last year and won silver at the Outdoor World Championships in Eugene. However, when he wanted to train in the Olymp hall in Stromovec during his current stay in the Czech Republic, his star status did not help him and he stayed behind the door. What is behind it?
One of the new personalities of global athletics has a background in the Czech Republic since last year, when he came for the winter indoor season and several competitions in Europe.
“He came for the first time last year. We took good care of him, above standard. We offered him help with training and transport. He asked us if we could continue to take care of him after Europe. We said yes, it’s an honor for us,” explains Tomáš Vojtek, director of the Hvězda meeting in Nehvizdy. “I need to take care of him. It’s completely free. We’re just going to do an autograph session for the kids. He liked it here. And even if he flies in for the Diamond League race series in the summer, he’ll be based here.”
Woo already became the junior world champion in 2013, and he made a breakthrough in the adult elite in the last two years. He finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, but a year ago he won a medal at both the indoor and outdoor world championships. He began his journey to fame a year ago in the winter in the Czech Republic. At that time, he performed indoors in Nehvizdy and also in Hustopeč, where he improved his personal record with a great performance of 236 centimeters.
Last year, Woo was able to use Otakar Jandery’s hall in Stromovka, which is the only one in Prague at a top level, for training. This time, however, the Korean champion was denied entry.
“The Korean competitor, to be a world champion, unfortunately acts as a commercial entity in this situation, and OLYMP CS MV cannot rent out its premises in such a case. It would be a gross violation of internal regulations,” states the article on the OLYMP website of the Sports Center of the Ministry of the Interior.
Since last summer, the director of the center has been Michal Volf, who until now is known, among other things, as a football referee and at the FAČR as the chairman of the disciplinary committee of the Steering Committee for the Czech Republic. Volf has worked in various positions at the Ministry of the Interior since 2016.
Sanghyeok Woo is a successful high jumper, but he could not enter the hall in Prague
“As OLYMP CS MV, we referred Mr. Vojtek to a specific person from the Czech Athletics Association who should be useful to him in terms of securing training facilities for the Korean representative,” said Volf in a statement on the Olymp website.
It was not possible to get a more specific message from him because Volf is currently on vacation.
Woo is currently preparing to enter the indoor season, which he will start on January 31 at the meeting of the silver category of the World Athletics indoor tour in Nehvizdy.
“He will train in the tunnel in Nehvizdy. They helped us at the association, that it will sometimes be overpressured in Strahov,” explained the head coach of the national team, Pavel Sluka.
Compared to the Olympia hall, which has long been a base for Czech athletics, both for top representatives from all departmental centers and for the hopes of the youth categories, the conditions in Strahov are far worse. It is an outdated pressurized hall, so the athletes, for example, have to put up with less than ideal air quality. However, it is the best solution for the Korean world champion right now.
“Mr. Vojtek told me that a Korean competitor here will be jumping at his meeting. He asked me if I could arrange entrance to the hall at Olympus. I told him that I don’t have that kind of leverage, that if there was a need for training in the hall in Strahov, as soon as the capacity is free, we can let him in for training,” said Sluka.