B-boy with Taegeukgi at the closing ceremony…”Hong Ten” Kim Hong Yeol’s legend continues

Kim Hong-yeol, who served as the flag bearer of the Korean team, entered the stadium waving the national flag at the Asian Games ceremony held at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium in Zhejiang Province on the afternoon of the 8th.

The scene in which he, who was considered a “dancer” rather than an athlete, represented Korea as a jockey is symbolic for the breaking event that has just appeared in the “sports” area.

Breaking, which will become an official Olympic event from the 2024 Paris Games, made its first appearance at the Asian Games through this event.

Kim Hong-yeol, who started breaking while imitating the dance moves his friend showed in middle school, is widely known overseas as “Hong-ten.”

Kim Hong-yeol, who started as a B-boy in international competitions since 2001 when he was 16, has maintained his top skills for 22 years and is considered one of the best athletes in sports history. 스포츠토토

Kim Hong-yeol, who won the Red Bull BC One Final, Korea’s first most prestigious international competition, beating world powers one after another in 2006, won another seven years later, writing a new history of the nation’s breaking.

Kim Hong-yeol, who was born in 1985 and is 38 years old, is still not tired. In June 2021, he fought against as many as 10 people in a row and won all of them at a competition held in Las Vegas.

At the time, the players were not as talented as the opponents they faced at the Hangzhou Asian Games, but Kim Hong-yeol’s physical strength and passion are alive to the extent that he continued to break for more than 20 minutes against 10 players.

Breaking is recognized as the highest level player only when he has his own signature skills that show his originality. Kim Hong-yeol has “Hongten Freeze.”

Freeze is a technique that keeps the body upright with certain movements. There are several movements in Hongten Freeze, and the most famous movement is that it is close to a stunt in which only two fingers are used to stand upside down.

For Kim Hong-yeol, who is already in his late 30s, it was a challenge to participate in the tournament, which will face newcomers and strong players from around the world, but he won a valuable silver medal.

This is the only medal the Korean breaking team has won in this tournament.

Kim Hong-yeol, who beat Amir Zakirov (Kazakhstan) in the quarterfinals and Ishin Hishikawa (Japan) in the semifinals, lost the gold medal to Japan’s Shigeyuki Nakarai (4-5 3-6 6-3) in the final on the 7th.

Nakarai, the first champion famous for his activities as “Shigekiks,” also served as the flag bearer for the Japanese team like Kim Hong-yeol.

Kim Hong-yeol could have defeated Nakarai if he had received one more vote in the first round.

Kim Hong-yeol, who met with Yonhap News at the joint coverage area after the game and said, “The more I think about it, the more regrettable it is,” is looking at next year’s Paris Olympics.

Kim Hong-yeol said, “I will go to the Red Bull BC1 Final two weeks later this year. It will be held in Paris, France, and friends with potential Olympic medals can come out and see it as a ‘prelude to the Olympics,’ he said. “My goal is the Olympics.” After that, I will need a break, but I will run until then.”