Son Yeon Jae Tokyo 2020; No Plans Yet, Proud of Her Rio Olympics Achievement
After falling short of becoming the first Asian to bring home an Olympic medal in rhythmic gymnastics at the recently-concluded Rio Olympics, Son Yeon Jae is still proud of herself for enduring through previous hardships and beating the odds to become the highest-ranked Asian in the history of the sport. She placed fourth behind bronze medalist Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine.
On Saturday, during the final of the individual all-around in rhythmic gymnastics, Son Accumulated 18.216 from hoop, 18.266 from ball, 18.300 from clubs, and 18.116 from ribbon for a total of 72.989 and finished in fourth place after the event. For every apparatus, she was third in hoop, fourth in ball, third in clubs, and fourth in ribbon.
In an article on its website, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Son Yeon Jae ranked fifth in hoop in the qualifiers because of several errors during her performance. In an interview, the gymnast said, "I could not have been more nervous."
She then focused and gave her best in the final round. After the final round and without knowing the outcome of her performance and the overall ranking, Son suddenly became emotional and cried a river of tears.
After the finals, she said, "I am satisfied with my performance. If I had to give myself a score, I would give a 100."
Son has become one of South Korea's most popular sports icons just like swimmer Park Tae Hwan and figure skater Kim Yuna since her debut in 2010. During the 2012 London Olympics, Son Yeon Jae became the first ever Asian gymnast to reach the Olympics finals in rhythmic gymnastics and finished fifth in ranking.
However, because of her sports icon status, many people also criticized Son saying that she enjoyed her national celebrity status and disregard herself as a gymnast. They attacked her for not being to bring home gold medals in international competitions such as the International Federation of Gymnastics World Cups. Such comments made Son consider retiring, but her parents encouraged her to keep going until the Rio Olympics.
The gymnast said, "I did not want to compete in another Olympics. Going to Rio was more difficult than I expected and I thought about quitting a dozen times a day. I hated the idea that I am doing what others expected me to do."
She further added, "I have learned so many life lessons by being a gymnast. For the rest of my life, the lessons will guide me throughout. I did not think of this before but now that everything is done, I am glad to have come to Rio."
After the Rio Olympics, Son Yeon Jae has no immediate plans of returning to the arena. She is reportedly considering of returning to university next semester and spend the rest of her time as a student. Her mother mentioned that Son has not also decided if she will be participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her mother commented, "I think she will give it more thought. For now, she would like to spend some time with her family."
