Lee Ri-young (Busan Swimming Federation) and Heo Yoon-seo (Sungkyunkwan University), the first Korean artistic swimming duo to reach the Olympic top 10, boarded a plane for Paris.
Lee and Heo left the departure hall at Incheon International Airport on the morning of the 22nd.
Lee and Heo are scheduled to arrive in Paris on the afternoon of the 22nd local time, and they will undergo acclimatization training at the Team Korea Paris Platform, a pre-camp organized by the Korea Sports Federation at the French National Defense Sports Center (CNSD) in Fontainebleau, outside Paris, and move into the athletes’ village on August 3.
Lee and Heo qualified for Paris after finishing 10th in the duet technical and 10th in the free at the World Championships in Doha in February.
It will be the first time in 12 years that a South Korean athlete has competed in the Olympic artistic swimming duet event since Park Hyun-sun and Park Hyun-ha at the London 2012 Games.
Lee Ri-young and Heo Yoon-seo will attempt to break into the “Olympic Top 10,” a feat not accomplished by their predecessors who competed in Seoul 1988 (Kim Mi-jin-soo and Ha Su-kyung, 12th), Sydney 2000 (Yunami and Jang Yoon-kyung, 11th) and London 2012 (Park Hyun-sun and Park Hyun-ha, 12th).
“Of the 18 nations competing in the Artistic Swim Duet, only three Asian nations – China, Japan and South Korea – are represented,” said the Korea Swimming Federation, adding, ”It is a strongly Western event, but Lee and Heo are confident of breaking into the top 10.”
“I know how hard and precious it is to qualify for the Olympics,” said Lee, who will be competing in just her third Olympics since first making the team in 2016. ”I’m very happy that I qualified with Yoon-seo and not alone, so I’m going to prepare better and enjoy the rest of the season and try to impress her.”
“When the day of departure finally arrived, the excitement and nervousness disappeared and I became calm,” said Heo Yoon-seo. ”I am grateful to my family and Artistic Swim teachers who always support me, and I will give everything I have prepared.”
Lee Ri-young and Heo Yoon-seo will perform their technical at 2:30 a.m. KST on August 10 and their pre-performance on August 11. 안전놀이터