"I will speak out even if it ends my career"... National team athlete who cried while cutting her hair exposes truth, and head coach ultimately steps down

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

"I know that I may no longer be able to continue my athletic career."

The desperate exposure by a promising athlete, who staked her entire athletic life on the line, ultimately brought down the coaching staff's careless mistakes and irresponsible attempts at cover-up. The administrative disaster, in which a national team athlete had to cry while cutting her hair and vomit what she had eaten, ended with the ignominious resignation of the national team head coach.

The Korea Judo Association officially announced on the 22nd that Jung Sung-sook, head coach of the Yeo Ja (CEO) team, submitted her letter of resignation immediately after the evaluation meeting for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games and World Championships held at the Seoul Songpa-gu Olympic Hall. Coach Jung, who had expressed her intention to resign upon returning home on the 13th, completely relinquished her position following the official evaluation meeting.

This resignation was decisively driven by the exposure made via social networking services (SNS) on the 4th by national judoka Jung Soo-jin (Yongin University). Jung, who had won bronze medals for two consecutive years at the Junior Asian Championships in 2024 and 2025 and was aiming for her first senior Asian Games medal, packed her bags without competing for even one second in the women's 48 kg class event.

Initially, both inside and outside the association believed that Jung had been disqualified due to a failure in weight control caused by personal negligence. As fierce criticism and ridicule poured down over what was seen as a national disgrace through failing the weigh-in, Jung broke her silence, staking her athletic life on the line.

According to Jung's exposure, she had passed the official weigh-in normally and had adjusted her weight to meet the random draw weigh-in standard of 50.4 kg by controlling her food intake on the morning of the competition day. However, immediately after the draw, the coaching staff conveyed that "only one male athlete was selected, and you are not subject to the weigh-in. Since you have lost a lot of weight, please eat quickly to recover." Even when Jung requested reconfirmation, the coaches repeated the same statement.

Trusting the coaching staff's instructions, Jung was consuming rice porridge, bananas, and ion drinks while warming up for her first match recovery, when a shocking fact was delivered with 15 minutes remaining before the weigh-in deadline. Late in receiving the information that she was indeed subject to the weigh-in, Jung forcibly vomited the food she had consumed and desperately attempted weight loss by cutting her own hair. However, the deadline passed, and she was ultimately disqualified miserably for exceeding the limit by just 100 g.

Jung cried out, "My appearance during the last 15 minutes—crying, vomiting, with cut hair falling out, kneeling and begging for just three more minutes—felt infinitely miserable."

Circumstances of silencing the athlete were also revealed. Jung disclosed that the coaches said, "We will take responsibility when we return to Korea," and "If it ends like this, we can quietly wrap it up," and that she suffered from criticism and speculation that she was disqualified due to personal negligence because the association did not promptly inform the public of the facts.

She added, "I know I may no longer be able to continue my athletic career, but I wrote this post to reveal the grievous truth rather than continuing sports with the stigma of national disgrace."

Public opinion boiled over in response to the courageous voice that threw away her athletic life. The Judo Association issued an official apology immediately after the incident, stating, "We recognize the severity of the situation seriously. We will take action based on regulations and principles through a thorough investigation immediately upon our return."

Subsequently, controversy over Coach Jung's management negligence continued even on the departure route for the World Championships that followed immediately. A farce occurred where the national team was stranded at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for nine hours after missing a connecting flight.

Ultimately, Coach Jung, who had bowed her head upon returning home, submitted her letter of resignation at the evaluation meeting held on the 22nd and exited ignominiously. The absurd mistakes and blame-shifting behavior of the coaching staff, which could have been permanently buried within the closed hierarchical order of the sports community, revealed its true face before the courage of one athlete who spoke the truth despite anticipating all kinds of disadvantages.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original