South Korean foil fencer Nam Hyun-hee said she felt "zero pressure" to deliver a medal when she arrived in Rio de Janeiro for her fourth Summer Olympics.
She is 34 years old, only three years removed from a childbirth that cost her some valuable training time, and with younger teammates coming off Olympic medals and other international titles, Nam felt all the eyes would be on them instead.
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Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald |
That explains her sense of relief following a second-round loss at the individual event on Wednesday.
"I am just happy to have come to the Olympics at all," Nam said after losing to Shiho Nishioka of Japan 15-12 at Carioca Arena 3.
"I am relieved. I didn't think anyone would put any pressure on me, and that's why I took on this challenge."
Nam led the match 6-2 early on, before the Japanese started cutting into the lead. Soon, it was 14-8 for Nishioka with the clock ticking down.
Nam, who said she had virtually her whole body taped because of lingering pains, said she wasn't really herself after the opening three minutes.
"My body started feeling really heavy, and I was exhausted,"
Nam said. "And when I couldn't capitalize on my opportunities, the opponent started getting her points. And I made a series of mistakes and the momentum swung the other way."
Nam said her only regret from the loss was her inability to maintain control.
"I wanted to enjoy myself out there, but I started thinking about winning a medal," Nam said. "I tried to play it safe and didn't really attempt a lot of moves early. Then when I fell behind, I had to play catch up and ran out of time."
Even if she's walking away from Rio empty-handed, Nam will always have her two Olympic medals to fall back on: individual silver in 2008 and team bronze in 2008.
Given her aching body, Nam said she's "convinced" she won't be able to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
"I've been using one side of my body for more than 20 years, and I've developed pains on the other side," the left-handed fencer said. "There are so many parts in my body that are hurting now." (Yonhap)
