South Korean badminton star An expresses frustration against national team after winning Olympic gold

An defeated Chinese player He Bingjiao 21-13, 21-16 in the women’s singles final on Sunday night. She said she had to compete with bandages wrapped tightly around her knee and was tormented by pain.

An tore the ligaments in her right knee at the 2023 Asian Games in China, when she won gold medal. The 22-year-old player accused the team’s coaching staff of taking her injury lightly.

“The injury was more serious than I thought and it will take a while to recover,” An told Yonhap. “It was taken lightly and I can’t forget how disappointed I was.”

An Se-young competes in the Paris Olympic women’s singles badminton final with an injured knee on Aug. 4, 2024. Photo by Reuters

An said her injury was misdiagnosed and she continued to compete despite the pain. After the 2023 Asian Games, the team said she would only need two to five weeks of rehabilitation therapy. But when she got checked up again at the end of the year, the injury was much more serious and a surgery would cost her the chance to compete in the Paris Olympics. In the end, An chose Paris and had to compete with an injured knee, according to the South China Morning Post.

When asked if she would retire from the national team, An said there was a time when she felt it was difficult to continue. However, she still wanted to keep going for the benefit of South Korean badminton and for her own achievements.

“I don’t know what the association will do,” An said, as cited by the South China Morning Post. “As long as I’m still playing badminton, I can endure any situation.”

She said she would have a careful discussion about her future with the association.

Kim Taek-gyu, President of the Badminton Korea Association, said that he would clarify the controversy surrounding the misdiagnosis of An’s injury. “There was no conflict between the association and An Se-young. I will look into the misdiagnosis of the injury and distribute it in a press release,” Kim told Chosun.

An is the second South Korean player to win the Olympic women’s singles gold medal, after Bang Soo-hyun in 1996. An is also the world number one and was the 2023 world champion.