Cho Hee-yeon, who won a gold medal in women's swimming at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. [Newsis, Cho Hee-yeon's Instagram]
Cho Hee-yeon, who won a gold medal in women's swimming at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games. [Newsis, Cho Hee-yeon's Instagram]

Amid a growing controversy over the Baejaego High School baseball team's cheering chant, Cho Hee-yeon — a gold medalist in women's swimming at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games — has drawn fresh criticism after posting a comment widely interpreted as defending the school. Cho had previously stirred controversy by describing the May 18 pro-democracy uprising as "a riot driven entirely by a spirit of rebellion," and she appeared to brush off the backlash that followed her latest post.

On June 30, Cho posted on her Threads account, "Should I move to Seoul so I can send my sons to Baejaego?"

The comment drew sharp criticism from online users. "To think there's a parent teaching her children to mock and insult others," one wrote. Others said, "How can an athlete have no sportsmanship?" and "An Asian Games gold medalist is saying this?" One commenter added, "Looks like she's raising her sons to be Ilbe users — does she even have the money to move there?"

As the backlash spread, Cho posted a follow-up: "Look at these comments lol why is Threads like this these days lol."

Earlier, Cho had drawn public outrage after describing the May 18 pro-democracy uprising as "a riot driven entirely by a spirit of rebellion." She was subsequently reported to authorities on charges of violating a special act prohibiting the spread of false information about the May 18 democratization movement.

The controversy began June 29, when Baejaego's baseball team repeatedly chanted "Let's go, let's go, let's go to Starbucks" toward the opposing dugout of Gwangju Jeil High School during the 81st Cheongrong Flag National High School Baseball Championship at Seoul's Mokdong Baseball Stadium. The Korea Baseball Softball Association handed the team a six-month ban from national competitions.

The chant drew widespread anger because it evoked an incident in May in which Starbucks Korea faced accusations of denigrating the May 18 pro-democracy uprising through its "Tank Day" marketing campaign.

Meanwhile, Cho was one of South Korea's most celebrated swimmers when she won gold in the women's 200-meter butterfly at the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games — while still in her third year of middle school. She also took bronze in the women's 400-meter medley relay and the women's 200-meter individual medley at the same Games. That year, she broke Korean national records 18 times and went on to win the Korean Swimming Federation's Swimmer of the Year award and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee's Most Valuable Athlete award.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com