SEOUL, Dec 29 (Reuters) – Whether ‘V’ stands for ‘victory’, ‘vindication’ or ‘vengeance’, Viktor Ahn wrote his new name in the record books by winning three more short track golds at the Sochi Olympics, repaying the faith his adopted country Russia had showed in him.
Born ‘Ahn Hyun-soo’ in Seoul, the skater won his first three Olympic golds racing for South Korea at the Turin Winter Games in 2006 and had racked up 18 world championship titles before his 22nd birthday.
But instead of plundering more short track gold in Vancouver, Ahn was sidelined from the team due to a knee injury and subsequently fell out with Korea’s skating union (KSU).
Believing his career was permanently stalled due to his differences with the KSU, Ahn took the drastic step of giving up his South Korean passport and switching allegiance to Russia in 2011.
In Sochi, Ahn revelled in his victories, kissing the ice and parading the Russian flag, a painful sight for fans and former compatriots.
In an interview with Reuters shortly after the Games, his father, Ahn Ki-won, said it had been hard to watch his son win gold for another country.
“When Hyun-soo was kissing the ice in Sochi, I asked him why did he do that. He told me: ‘Everyone said I was finished. I proved them all wrong.'”
Ahn’s success, coupled with the failure of South Korea’s men to win a single gold in Sochi, prompted a backlash against the country’s skating union (KSU).
South Korean President Park Geun-hye ordered a government ministry to find out what forced the greatest Olympic short track skater of all time to turn his back on his homeland.
Ahn will be 32 when the Winter Olympics arrive in South Korea’s Pyeongchang in 2018. It would be hard to imagine a more fitting end to his career than winning gold in front of a team who did not want him and the fans who still love him.
