Exclusive Bobsleigh Won Yoon-jong and figure Cha Jun-hwan, candidates for IOC Athletes Commission, 'two-way race'

Bobsleigh Won Yoon-jong and figure skater Cha Jun-hwan will stage a "two-way race" for domestic candidates to serve on the International Olympic Committee and IOC athletes' committee.

As a result of the Korean Olympic Committee's recent recommendation for domestic candidates for the IOC Athletes' Commission for the Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics next year, two people challenged.

Only one IOC athlete committee member can be held by each country, but Korea will be able to challenge for the first time as Park In-bee, who participated in the previous Paris Olympics, was defeated.

First, Won Yun-jong is the 'signboard of Korean sleds'.

In addition to winning Asia's first bobsled silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, he participated in the Olympics three times, from Sochi in 2014 to Beijing in 2022.

He played the role of "pilot" driving sleds and played in both the two and four-seaters, and especially in the 2015-16 season, he became the first Asian to rank No. 1 in the world.

At the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Olympics, he was a joint flag bearer between the two Koreas and entered with a North Korean ice hockey player and a Korean Peninsula flag.

Won Yoon-jong, who finished his career after the Beijing Olympics, is currently active in the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation Athletes' Committee, participating in various sports administrations, including the Korean Sports Council Athletes' Committee and the 2024 Gangwon Youth Olympics 'Role Model'.

Figure skating Cha Jun-hwan is an active star called 'Men's Kim Yu-na.'

He became the first Korean male athlete to win a silver medal at the 2023 Figure Skating Championships, ranking fifth in the 2022 Beijing Olympics and 15th in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

It is said that he boasts fluent English skills that are not difficult to communicate.

Cha Jun-hwan, a 23-year-old college student this year, is also likely to participate in the Milan Olympics next year.

Won Yoon-jong and Cha Jun-hwan will go through an evaluation process such as document screening and English interviews to determine the "domestic final candidates."

If he is elected through a direct vote of the participating athletes during the Milan Olympics in February next year, he will take on the role of a "sports diplomat" for an eight-year term.

In the past, there were two IOC athletes from Korea, Taekwondo Moon Dae-sung and table tennis Yoo Seung Min, and Kim Jae-yeol, president of the International Skating Union, is the only active IOC member.

While the IOC has yet to deliver election information to each country, the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee plans to finalize the domestic candidate selection process within next month.