What`s wrong with Park Tae-hwan?

By Oh Kyu-wook



Olympic medalist Park Tae-hwan has failed to reach the finals of 400m and 200m freestyle, dashing hopes of Koreans for making more history in swimming.

The 19-year-old swimmer never looked like a contender, finishing third in his heat in the men`s 400m freestyle with an unimpressive 3min 46.04sec, according to AFP.



Park`s time was almost three seconds slower than in Beijing last year, where he became the fist Korean to win the gold medal in Olympic swimming.



News reports said Park`s decision to go with an old swimsuit was a mistake. Park prefers to wear a waist-to-knee swimsuit, as he did in both race, rather than a high-tech bodysuit.



Swimmers wearing bodysuits have produced 11 championship records until Day 2 of the World Championship, though the suits were banned by FINA, the governing body, beginning in 2010.



Park did not blame his suit, instead he claimed he had to take time-off from swimming.



"I couldn`t get enough rest after the Olympics. I have been working hard since 2005 and I haven`t had any rest. That was the problem," Park told reporters.



But rumors speculate that the Korean swimming star had photo-shoots for a fashion magazine, while he was in Rome in preparation for the competition. Park`s main sponsor SK Telecom, however, denied the rumors saying that Park never posed for the camera.



Many were also saying that Park needs a personal coach. Park has trained with SK Telecom special team, separately from the national team, in the United States until recently.



But when he came back to Korea he rejoined the national squad.



"It would have been better for him to join the national train and train with them full time," national team head coach Roh Min-sang told Yonhap News.



"To be honest, there is too much pressure on me that I can`t cope with," Park said after failing to get his berth in the 200m final.



Park Suk-gi former national swimming director told reporters that "Park Tae-hwan should not be concerned about the result but rather he should enjoy himself to be in the competition."



Park still has a chance to prove himself against the criticism surrounding him. He is scheduled to swim in the 1,500 meter freestyle in Rome on Saturday. (kyuwook.oh@gmail.com)