Team Korea athletes love BTS

Posted on : 2021-07-26 17:51 KST Modified on : 2021-07-26 17:51 KST
The women’s archery team captain Kang Chae-young said she would like the event organizers to play “Dynamite” by BTS if she wins the gold in the individual event
An San (left), Jang Min-hee (center) and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team pose for a photo with their gold medals for the women’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. (pool photo)
An San (left), Jang Min-hee (center) and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team pose for a photo with their gold medals for the women’s team event at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. (pool photo)

As the South Korean women’s archery team nabbed an unprecedented ninth straight Olympic victory, the Blackpink song “Boombayah” rang out at the event’s venue, the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo.

The members were first thought to have requested the song after because of lyrics like “Now I’m raising a glass for me.” But the actual song they requested turned out to have been by BTS.

“We actually asked for a BTS song, and I guess there was some mistake because it was a Blackpink song that played. I’m still disappointed,” team captain Kang Chae-young, 25, said in a press conference following the match on Sunday.

She also told the Hankyoreh that she “would like them to play ‘Dynamite’ [by BTS]” if she wins the gold in the individual event on Friday.

The national squad’s love for BTS goes even farther. Seventeen-year-old Shin Yu-bin, a member of the table tennis team, said, “The song I’m going to listen to at this Olympics is ‘DOPE.’”

“When I listen to it, I also feel ‘dope,’” she added. The song’s Korean title “Jjeoreo” references a recent slang term meaning “great.”

Swimmer Lee Eun-ji, the squad’s youngest member at 15 years of age, said, “I actually like comics more than entertainers, but if I had to pick one, it would be [BTS member] J-Hope.”

Kim Ji-su, a 21-year-old Zainichi Korean-born judoka, said, “I’m not really up on South Korean singers yet, but I’m most interested in BTS.”

The latest Olympics represent a changing of the generational guard for the South Korean athletic world. It’s the emergence of Generation Z as “1988 babies” like volleyball star Kim Yeon-koung — now 33 — retire.

The archery gold winners are all in their early to mid-20s, Kang being joined by 22-year-old Jang Min-hee and 20-year-old An San. A number of the squad members are still in their teens, including Shin, Lee, and 17-year-old archer Kim Je-deok.

Another big difference from the past is the promotion of national prestige with requests for music from favorite music acts at the venue after the athletes have captured Olympic gold. A new generation is creating a new Olympic landscape.

By Lee Jun-hee, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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