Lin Shaojun (27, Korean name Lim Hyo-jun), a former national short tracker who was naturalized in China, stepped on Korean soil two years after 2021.
Xiaojun Lin arrived at Incheon Airport with a Chinese teammate for the 2023 International Skating Union (ISU) Short Track World Championships held in Mok-dong, Seoul on the 4th. He wore a black mask and a red jumper.
Xiaojun Lin won the gold medal in the men’s 1500m short track speed skating at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The following year, in 2019, he was charged with exposing body parts while joking down the pants of a player of the same gender in the national team. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court, but the one-year suspension of qualifications he received from the Korea Skating Federation before going to the third trial remained in effect. Then, in June 2020, he became a naturalized Chinese citizen.
According to the Olympic Charter of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ‘in order for an athlete to change nationality and participate in the Olympics, three years must pass after the international competition in which he participated in the previous nationality’, and he was unable to participate in the Beijing Olympics last year.
Then, from the 2022/23 season, he participated as a representative of China and appeared in six ISU World Cups and Four Continents Championships held from October last year to February this year. In particular, he won the men’s 500m and men’s 5000m relay in the 5th World Cup competition, and won the gold medal in the 500m in the 6th competition. At the time, he was in tears hugging his coaches. 메이저놀이터
Some are interpreting that he will become the ‘second Viktor Ahn’ compared to Victor Ahn (Korean name Ahn Hyun-soo), who won three gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics after being naturalized in Russia.
Lin Xiaojun, who met with Korean reporters at Incheon International Airport that day, briefly expressed his feelings about the game, saying, “I think this tournament is the same as other tournaments,” and “I will prepare well as I prepare for other tournaments.”
When asked about the goal of the tournament and how he felt about stepping back on Korean soil, he said, “I’ll tell you after all the games.”