Lee Hae-in, king of positivity “I want to become a star that stays afloat, not a shooting star”

The power of positivity.

Lee Hae-in (18, Sehwa Girls’ High School) was the driving force that allowed her to stand up again despite the slump and the shock of being eliminated from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Lee Hae-in won the silver medal in women’s singles at the 2023 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating World Championships held in Saitama, Japan last month. Lee Hae-in is the second Korean female singles player to win a medal at the World Championships in 10 years after Kim Yu-na, the “Queen of Figure Skating”.

Lee Hae-in, who returned to Korea on the 27th of last month after finishing the competition, is spending her busy days. Since she will participate in the 2023 ISU Figure Skating Team Trophy (April 13-16, Tokyo, Japan), Lee Hae-in, who is continuing her training without a break, is also responding to her interview requests.

Lee Hae-in, who was in the middle of training at the Taereung Ice Rink in Nowon-gu, Seoul on the 3rd of the meeting with Newsis, said, “I received the most text messages in my life after the World Championships. . Still, I feel that I did something well,” he smiled brightly.

She continued, “Not only my mom and dad, but also my older sister, who is 4 years older, were very happy. My mom doesn’t show much expression and has a calm personality, but she sent me a lot of text messages after winning the medal. My mom is happy.” It was nice to do it,” he added.

There were even more difficult moments… He overcame being eliminated from the Beijing Olympics.
In the 2021-2022 season, Lee Hae-in suffered the pain of being eliminated from the Beijing Olympics.

Lee Hae-in, who took the lead in increasing Korea’s women’s singles Olympic quota to two by taking 10th place at the 2021 ISU World Championships, finished sixth in poor condition at the first round of qualifying events for the Beijing Winter Olympics held in December of that year. Lee Hae-in, who failed to make up for the gap she had opened in the second competition, ultimately missed out on the Beijing Olympics.

Still, Lee Hae-in stood up steadfastly. He won a silver medal at the Four Continents Championships held just before the Beijing Olympics, and ranked 7th at the World Championships held immediately after the Olympics, making the top 10 for two consecutive years.

Lee Hae-in confessed, “Honestly, I cried after the qualifying round for the Beijing Olympics. Rather than the fact that I couldn’t go to the Olympics, I cried while blaming myself for the fact that I had never performed a clean performance in that season until then.”

He quickly brushed off his upset about not being able to compete in the Olympics. He said, “After the first qualifying round, the difference in points widened a lot. Before the second qualifying round, I didn’t think of making up for it and getting the right to participate in the Beijing Olympics, but only thinking about trying to get into the top three.”

Lee Hae-in said, “People around me say that the Beijing Olympics qualifying round must have been the hardest, but in fact, the hardest moment in my figure skating life was in 2020토토사이트.”

At that time, Lee Hae-in finished his junior career and was about to make his senior debut. Lee Hae-in, who missed out on a medal after finishing in 5th place after finishing second in the short program at the 2020 World Junior Championships, encountered all kinds of bad news while preparing for the 2020-2021 season. As he grew taller, he had to rediscover his lost jumping sensation, combined with reflux esophagitis and a peach bone injury.

Lee Hae-in said, “I felt like I was completely traumatized by making a ridiculous mistake at the World Junior Championships. There was a time when I stood on the ice for an hour without being able to jump because I felt like I was going to be carried away when I ran.” I had reflux esophagitis so severe that I had to sleep, so I lost 3 to 4 kg of weight and my muscles were reduced. It was also at that time that I got an injury where my peach bones were filled with water.”

The experience of overcoming repeated bad news became medicine for Lee Hae-in. Lee Hae-in gave meaning, saying, “I was able to overcome the difficult times during the Beijing Olympics and this season because of the experience at that time.”

Lee Hae-in, who rose from the pain, sincerely congratulated Yoo-young and Kim Ye-rim, who participated in the Beijing Olympics. Lee Hae-in said, “I didn’t feel upset while watching the Olympic Games. Knowing how hard the unnies worked and how earnest they were, I was happy to see her favorite unnies after it ended.”

Lee Hae-in’s positive mind… “I’m the only one who truly believes in me”
The beginning of the 2022-2023 season was also not easy. At the beginning of the season, he almost withdrew from the event after catching the flu, and in the two ISU Grand Prix series in the 2022-2023 season, he finished 4th in both, unfortunately missing a medal. Lee Hae-in joked, “I hate the number ‘4’ so much.”

As I had a difficult time at the beginning of the season, I doubted myself for a while. Lee Hae-in confessed, “I thought, ‘Can I do well again?’. I thought that if I put in effort, everything will be fine, but at the beginning of this season, I thought, ‘Is there something I can’t do even if I try hard?'”

But Lee Hae-in did not give up. With the encouragement of his colleagues, he regained his positive mind.

Lee Hae-in said, “I don’t think I’m mentally strong, but I’m positive. When something bad happens, I think rather than worrying about why something bad is happening to me and that something worse will happen to me, I think ‘I was destined to go through this and I’m going to be happy again’.” I think so,” he explained.

He said, “When I was having a hard time at the beginning of the season, my new friends helped me a lot, (Kyung) Jae-seok, (Lee) Si-hyung, and (Cha) Jun-hwan oppa cheered me on. (Kim) Ye-rim unnie also gave me a lot of advice. (Kim) Chae-yeon “I worked hard and was stimulated,” he said. “So I gained strength again. I wanted to make sure there were no regrets left at the Four Continents Championships and World Championships.”

Lee Hae-in, who won the gold medal at the Four Continents Championships and the silver medal at the World Championships thanks to his refusal to give up, said, “I felt relieved and thought ‘I did one thing’ while achieving good results in the big competition. There were only three of us, so I wondered if it was real.”

Lee Hae-in emphasized, “With the silver medal at the World Championships, I decided to dispel my doubts about myself and sincerely believe in me again. I think that I am the only person who can sincerely believe in me.”

Yuna Kim is ‘just a grateful existence’
After the Four Continents Championships, Lee Hae-in, who said, “Yuna unnie is my role model forever,” was asked, “What kind of person is Kim Yu-na?”

Lee Hae-in, who pondered for a while, gave the answer, “Thank you.”

Lee Hae-in, who said that she entered the path of a full-fledged athlete after seeing Kim Yuna run a triple toe loop at an ice show in 2013, said, “It was when she was learning to skate, and she decided to become an athlete after seeing Yuna’s older sister.” raised

“If I hadn’t had Yuna unnie, I wouldn’t have known figure skating, and I wouldn’t have known that it was so much fun. I wouldn’t have been able to quickly find something that I could turn into a career in my life,” he said. he explained why.

When asked, ‘Then what sport would you have played if you hadn’t done figure skating?’ Lee Hae-in laughed, saying, “It’s archery. Something looks really cool.”

If Yu-Na Kim is the one who started figure skating, Yu-Young is the one who nurtured her dream. The image of Yoo Young winning her silver medal at the 2020 Four Continents Championships left a strong impression on Lee Hae-in.

Lee Hae-in said, “Originally, I thought it was a great thing just to go to the Four Continents Championships and the World Championships. But after seeing Youngi win a silver medal in 2020, I had a dream of winning a medal later.” .

A ‘girl’ who likes to draw and dance outside the ice
Lee Hae-in, who is off the ice, is a girl who loves drawing and dancing.

It was also painting that comforted Lee Hae-in, who loved to draw from a young age, through difficult times. She mainly draws portraits, but she started making presents to those people two years ago.

This time she also presented a picture of Ilya Malinin (USA), an American divinity, at the World Championships.

Lee Hae-in said, “I want to get close to players from other countries, but isn’t it a little too much to just approach and talk to them? So I approached him by giving him a picture as a gift.” ” he introduced.

He also likes to watch cartoons. He enjoys watching Studio Ghibli (Japanese animation production company) animations, and recently studied Japanese while trying to get acquainted with a Japanese player who competed in the world championships.

Lee Hae-in said, “I translated the sentences I wanted to say into Japanese and memorized them. I told Kaori Sakamoto (who won the gold medal at the World Championships), ‘You are the best skater’ in Japanese. She really liked it.”

Dancing is also one of Haein’s hobbies. Rave Girls’ ‘Rolin’ and Ive’s ‘After Like’, which were recently written as songs for a gala program, are also songs Hae-in Lee listens to while dancing.

Lee Hae-in said, “I dance after breakfast and before going to bed at home. I dance when I feel like I need to move but I don’t want to exercise. That’s why I listen to a lot of exciting songs.”

Regarding the use of K-pop in the gala program, he said, “Recently, K-pop is popular, and as a Korean, I wanted to promote it more. I’m thinking of writing a more exciting K-pop song as a song for the gala program.”

Lee Hae-in’s dream “I want to become a star that stays afloat, not a shooting star”

Lee Hae-in prepares to fly higher in the 2023-2024 season. After completing the team trophy, they plan to focus on improving the perfection of the triple axel that spins three and a half times in the air.

Lee Hae-in said, “I practiced the triple axel before starting this season. I played for a few months before going to the Four Continents Championship, and it wasn’t bad.” I want to play more than one in the season,” he said.

In three years, the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics await.

Lee Hae-in, who couldn’t stand on the Olympic stage in Beijing, might be greedy, but he’s not bothered yet.

Lee Hae-in said, “The Olympics is a big stage, but there are many big competitions such as the Grand Prix series, the Four Continents Championships, and the World Championships. I will pay attention to the competitions in front of me first, and then think about the Olympics later when the time comes.” said

There are just imaginings. Lee Hae-in said with a shy smile, “I sometimes imagine myself succeeding in a more advanced technique in Milan.”

What is his dream as a figure skater? There was no hesitation in Lee Hae-in’s answer.

“There are players who shined like shooting stars. I want to become a star that stays on the sky more than a shooting star. I want to keep my position steadily.