Korean shooting pistol ace Cho Jung-doo (37, BDH Paras) became the first gold medal winner for the Korean team. He could have enjoyed his joy, but he first expressed his sorry to his wife.
In the final round of the men’s 10-meter air pistol (sports grade SH1) held at Chatoru Shooting Center in France on Thursday (Korea time), Cho Jung-du confidently won the gold medal by shooting 237.4 points. He beat Manish Narwal (India, 234.9 points) by a fairly large margin.
Up to the first 10 shots, she ranked second. She shot 98.9 points, lagging behind Yang Chao (100.6 points from China). She ranked first with 198.9 points for the 20th shot. Until the end, she remained at the top of the rankings. It is Korea’s first gold medal in this competition. Cho’s personal dream came true, too. 메이저놀이터
After the game, Cho said, “I felt so sorry for my wife. When I went out too often ahead of the Paralympics, my wife even said, ‘I have to go.’ That’s how hard I trained. I promised that I would bring her the gold medal.”
In February last year, Cho and his wife Noh Hyun-joo signed a 100-year-old contract. They will also see their first son. The baby will be born on September 12. It was the moment when she needed her husband the most, but Cho was not able to be with her because of preparations for the Paralympics. She expressed her regret.
Even before the competition, Lee said he was a strong candidate for gold. The mood could have been slightly subdued as Lee Yoon-ri (49) lost the gold medal in the women’s 10-meter air rifle (sports grade SH1). As Cho took the top position, he changed everything.
“Actually, I was a little nervous because I didn’t perform as well as I did during practice. I even had distracting thoughts. For example, I think, ‘Why is that fly sitting there?’ It was a miscellaneous thought that I couldn’t even think about at a big competition,” Cho said.
Still, he recovered quickly. “All of a sudden, I thought, ‘The opponent will be pushed out anyway, so let’s shoot comfortably.’ I think that’s the driving force behind the gold medal. On the one hand, I was thinking that I would definitely win my first gold medal, but I really feel good to win it,” he added.
Before the competition, I also trained with non-disabled people. This worked. “I think I was the most encouraged person. I gained a lot of confidence then. Compared to non-disabled people, the score difference is quite big. But when I tried it, I felt a little bit that it was worth trying,” he said.
The moment I won the gold medal, I was reminded of my wife and soon-to-be-born child. “I want to give the gold medal to my wife and child. I haven’t named my child yet, but my birth name is ‘Tiyong.’ Isn’t this the year of the dragon?”
“I want to say ‘don’t go away’ rather than asking my child to grow up healthy,” he said. “Sixie, I won a gold medal,” he said to his wife, and laughed loudly, and then smiled again, saying, “I think it would be nice if I gave my wife a gold medal and gave her a gold medal that the general manager was supposed to give me.”
They became the best, but they also had a hard time. In 2007, he failed to receive treatment for meningitis while serving in the military, and suffered spinal cord disorder as a aftereffect. He also had acquired disability and spent a long time wandering around.
Cho Jung-du said, “I was afraid to go outside. I spent seven to eight years trapped at home, wondering what I could do. I came all the way here after being hit by fire. I couldn’t even dare to do it at first.”
When he said, “I gave hope to many people by winning a gold medal,” he said, “It’s not solved just by talking about it,” adding, “If you go out with your own courage and meet many people, you will see the way.”
Now that he has won the gold medal, he is about to take a breather. Cho even skipped meals and picked up a gun ahead of the game. “When I play after eating, my gun doesn’t fix and shakes while digesting,” Cho said. “I want to go to a restaurant and eat ramen. I’m hungry because I haven’t eaten yet.”