Sports federations should look back on why they were established and why they exist. The reasons that all sorts of sports federations or associations are needed are to protect the rights and interests of athletes and to discover and nurture talented people. However, sports federations that put their profits ahead of everything and can’t see national level benefits want to extort profits from them. We are losing talented people because of malfunctioning federations.
  I guess not everyone could just sincerely cheer for Ahn Hyun-soo(now Viktor Ahn). It’s because the uniform that he wore and the national flag that he held was not Korea’s but Russia’s. Korea Skating Union effected him to be naturalized as a Russian. Since he had injured his knees in 2008, he was asked to retire despite his youth, and he wasn’t selected as a member of the national team. He decided to be naturalized as a Russian because he couldn’t continue an athlete’s life in Korea. Russia provided him with the best support for training and also guaranteed his life after retirement. On the other hand, Korea Skating Union deprived him of qualification for the national team for the reason that he could never win a gold. His naturalization showed an insufficiency of the union that should protect and support athletes, and this also aroused suspicion of factions and absurd management in the union. However, the investigation about suspicion of the union’s corruption, stirred by Ahn Hyun-soo, is sinking to the bottom of the sea as public opinion is becoming silent.
  The harmful effects of sports federations are not only found in Korea Skating Union, but also the Korea Swimming Federation. Even though Park Tae-hwan was exhausted after the London Olympic games, the Korea Swimming Federation didn’t consider that and forced him to participate in their events in London in 2012. After that, they notified everyone, including him, of his participation in their event unilaterally through articles. However, Park Tae-hwan didn’t attend, so the Korea Swimming Federation didn’t reward him for winning two silver medals. After the London Olympics, they had a deep grudge, which was aggravated by not giving him training payment and by deliberately being mean to him. There is concern that the conflict between them will be the second Ahn Hyun-soo situation.
  An old saying has it that, “To lock the stable door after the horse is stolen.” If they neglected support for athletes and lost talented people because of meager treatment and chopping their own ice and then fixed the problems, that comes to nothing. Sports federations should not forget that providing an open road for outstanding individuals is their duty.