Winning a gold medal is a big deal. As a result, athletes want to be able to celebrate and soak in their moment at the top of their sport.
However, for South Korean skater Jung Cheol-won, the decision to celebrate a fraction of a second too early cost him and his teammates a spot atop the podium – and an exemption from mandatory military service.
Jung was part of the three-man South Korean team taking part in the men’s 3,000m speed skating relay final at the Huangzhou Asian Games in China on Monday.
The 27-year-old, who was skating the final leg of the race, approached the finish line just ahead of Taiwan’s Huang Yu-Lin.
Thinking that he had the gold medal sealed, Jung chose to raise his hands aloft and not reach for the finish line.
Unbeknownst to him, Huang stretched a long, left leg forward and was just able to pip Jung to first place.
As a result, Taiwan finished with a time of 4:05.692 for the gold medal, with South Korea crossing the line in second place with a time of 4:05.702, meaning that Taiwan won the gold by an agonizing 0.01 seconds. India finished in third with a time of 4:10.128.
“I thought it was such a shame that I was just a little bit short, and then the results came up on the screen showing that we had won by one hundredth of a second, and it was just a miracle,” Huang said after the race, according to Reuters.
After the race, Jung apologized for how he finished his final lap.
“I made a rather big mistake,” Jung said, per Reuters. “I didn’t come at full speed to the finish line. I let my guard down too early. I am very sorry.”
The result was made even worse for Jung and one of his teammates, Choi In-ho, as by not winning the gold medal, it meant that the pair missed out on an exemption from having to take part in South Korea’s military service.
Military service is compulsory for men in South Korea, with almost all able-bodied persons required to serve in the army for 18 months by the age of 28. The mandatory duty can be waived for some athletes, in particular, those who win an Olympic medal or a gold medal in the Asian Games.
However, South Korean law allows men who are deemed to excel in sports, popular culture, art or higher education to defer their service until the age of 30. The stipulation means that Choi has another opportunity to earn an exemption at the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi and Nagoya, Japan.