Park Tae-hwan returns with his 3 world championship gold medals

“I learned important lessons not only about swimming but also about life itself while preparing everything on my own. It was a chance for me to appreciate all the help that I got from so many people," said Park Tae-hwan (27) who won the third gold at the Short Course World Championships in Windsor, Canada, returning to the pool much stronger and more mature. Park came back to Korea on Monday, and expressed satisfaction about getting to his feet on his own, explaining the different circumstances he is currently under compared to his prime years.

Park used to be called a national hero during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics, and enjoyed staunch support. A full range of support was available for him 24 hours a day from a corporate-sponsored backup team dedicated to him consisting of local and foreign coaching staff, trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, translators, training partners, and other experts. The annual budget on the backup team alone hovered around 2 billion to 3 billion won. All he had to do was just focus on training.

In the wake of the doping scandal last year, however, there has been a seismic change. Sponsors left, and he found himself to be his own sponsor for the first time in his career. The Korean swimmer also got involved in a legal dispute with the Korean Sports and Olympic Committee over competing in the 2016 Summer Olympic in Rio de Janeiro. Practice was not enough as he could not find a 50m-course training facility in Korea; naturally, he had a hard time in keeping his elite form.

After the Rio Olympics, Park focused only on swimming. He devised his own strategies for the National Sports Festival in October and the 2016 Asian Swimming Championship in November. He developed a new turn that can prevent distraction and maintain his pace while boosting the speed.

“As I was all by myself, I could look back on myself and learned a lot of lessons. I was grateful for the fact that I could do something on my own, and that in turn enabled me to get better results,” said Park Tae-hwan. “Over the past one year and a half, I was tired both physically and mentally, but things are getting better. I will make strong preparations for the World Swimming Championships next year.”

Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com