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Won Yu-min (36), the 'first naturalized disabled person' Nordic skier and elected member of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) athletes' committee, pledged to work to improve inconveniences faced by disabled athletes, such as adjusting sports class levels.

Commissioner Won Yoo-min returned to Korea through Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 10th together with the Korean Paralympic team.

Commissioner Won was elected as an IPC Athletes' Commissioner, representing athletes and setting the direction and voice for global disability sports policy.

According to an announcement from the IPC on the 7th, Commissioner Won received 296 votes in a vote conducted among athletes participating in the Paralympics, ranking 4th out of 25 candidates, earning the qualification of Athletes' Commissioner, which is given to the top 6 candidates with the most votes.

Commissioner Won looked back at the scene where he was called as an athlete commissioner and raised both hands to greet the crowd at the closing ceremony held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris, France on the 9th, and said with a laugh, "So many Parisians came that the stadium was full. I was so nervous that my expression was frozen."

Won Yu-min, who ran for the IPC Athletes' Commission, saying he wanted to advance the rights of fellow athletes, said he was specifically interested in improving the sport's classification.

Commissioner Won said, "The most sensitive area for athletes participating in the Paralympics and World Championships is the sports class," and "It is most important to compete at a fair level, but since there are many sensitive issues, it seems that athletes want improvement in this area the most."

“Because the sample size of disabled athletes is small, there is a large difference in the degree of disability even within the same grade,” said Commissioner Won. “Furthermore, if the grades are further subdivided, the number of participating athletes itself may become insufficient,” he emphasized. “The IPC’s goal is to resolve this dilemma.”

“Because they are all different players with different disabilities, they all have different wants,” said Won. “It seems difficult to find a balance.”

The four-year term has begun, but it is said that no specific schedule has been set yet.

Commissioner Won predicted, "First, the players' committee members will have to get together and decide who will be the chairman and vice chairman, and then they will set various meeting schedules and begin full-scale activities."

Won, who is also a Para Nordic skier, is determined to both train and serve as an IPC commissioner.

Won Yu-min, who immigrated to Canada when he was 12, competed as a member of the Canadian wheelchair basketball team at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, and after regaining his Korean citizenship in 2017, he competed in para Nordic skiing under the Taegeuk mark at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics.

Commissioner Won said, "I am still an active Nordic skier, so I think I will have to follow my training schedule and coordinate my attendance at the IPC schedule," adding, "First, I will attend the IPC General Assembly to be held in Korea next year."

He said, "I will try to find as many things as I can change little by little and improve as much as possible during my four-year term."

source: https://bit.ly/outlookindiatoto