Life after gold

9 August 13, 2008August 13, 2008

by javabeans

With all the attention being lavished on Michael Phelps, it’s enough to make you think there aren’t any other swimmers, isn’t it? But in Korea, swimmer Park Tae-hwan was already famous prior to his Olympic win. Now, one gold and one silver medal later, he’s poised for super-stardom — let the money start rolling in!

Probably Korea’s biggest (or at least most high-profile) success in Beijing thus far, already the 18-year-old Park (19 by Korean standards) is being inundated with numerous endorsement and advertising offers. His mother disclosed that even before the Olympics had begun, Park was fielding more than twenty offers.

He hasn’t signed any contracts yet, but the scramble to attract him looks to heat up. He’s already an A-lister in terms of CF earnings, having contracts with SK Telecom, Kookmin Bank, Lotte Chilsung beverages, and Basic House clothing.

However, it’s also possible Park may take the quiet route and keep the endorsements to a minimum, as he may opt to view his youth and the importance of protecting his image as factors. His father — who set up a management office (Team GMP) to handle all of Park’s management issues — explains that Park will continue to concentrate on his training and will likely only choose things that fit his image.

Oh, and netizens are busy salivating again, this time over recently discovered pics of the swimming star as a young(er) kid (at right). Ah, another teen-idol heartthrob in the making.

Via Hankyung

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Tags: CFs, Park Tae-hwan

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1 Orchid

August 13, 2008 at 6:45 PM

Yeah he sure has star quality.

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2 phjfever

August 13, 2008 at 7:31 PM

Chuka hae yo for winning! I'm not Korean but I'm proud of you as I love watching K-dramas & K-actors! I hope you sign up a contract to do a good drama! Aja aja

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3 Malinda

August 13, 2008 at 7:41 PM

He's a total hottie and talented. Way to Go!! Congrats!

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4 docmitasha

August 13, 2008 at 9:19 PM

yep...michael phelps is good, no doubt, but the announcers are so swoony and crazy over him its irritating...can they atleast be fair? tonight they actually had the nerve to make fun of the other swimmers...before the race was even on...lets not be that obnoxious!

whoohoo to park tae hwan!

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5 haj

August 13, 2008 at 10:00 PM

Well Phelps deserves the praise. he won like 11 medals to Taehwan's 2! Park's good but not as good as Phelps.

Heartthrob? Eh, I don't think so. He's cute, but not quite a heartthrob. His chin is huge.

i would say Korea's biggest win is in Baseball , 8-7 win against USA. It was on Yahoo! If Yahoo! cares, its a big deal I think. Even though it doesn't count for a medal (does it?)

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6 kpop

August 14, 2008 at 12:27 AM

heart throb?! yeh rite.
if i walk past him in real life I wudnt even look twice.

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7 sf

August 14, 2008 at 6:25 AM

I'm sorry, but if PTW decides to be a drama and stop training like a proper Olympic swimmer - I'll lose all respect for him. Especially because he's got so much potential - combined with his age and current skill level, he unquestionably will able to return to the Olympics if he simply keeps it up. The fact he came 2nd only to Phelps in his latest event attests to that.

Speaking of, feel like comparisons to Phelps are pretty moot. He's just on a whole other level - a head above ALL the swimmers this year. And for chrissake, Phelps is a master at ALL the strokes, Park specializes in only one like most other Olympians. In Korea's defense, I don't think Koreans know much about swimming and their legends. My own dad barely recognized Phelp's name, did not know who Spitz was, and I was in competitive swimming for 8 years and we all devoutly watched the last 2 swimming Olympics. It's just now Korea's finally trying to figure what swimming actually is (for obvious reasons). I'm sure by the time the Olympics are over, Korea will come around. Korea Yahoo and the Korean papers are already commenting that it's actually "great" to see Park was able to place 2nd to Phelps....a pretty huge concession for Korea to be happy over not placing first ^_^ The fact Park said himself it was an honor to swim with Phelps and "couldn't catch up with him no matter how hard he swam" definitely put it in perspective for a lot of Koreans. In any case, Phelp's 11 golds speak for themselves.

***
On a lighter note, Park is cute for a guy who's not in the showbiz. Albeit he probably looks better since he has the gloss of Olympic medals now...which I think that is much more respectable than a guy who's just good-looking.

@haj
8-7 is actually a pretty TINY win margin considering the US team were composed of minor league players while Korea's team were all major leaguers if I recall properly. I think Korea will be lucky if they even get a bronze.

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8 Javabeans

August 14, 2008 at 10:30 AM

Hey, I'm not knocking Phelps. The guy's phenomenal, no doubt.

I'm just getting tired of the constant sycophantic gushing that all our NBC commentators, and anchors, and correspondents keep spouting. Some of us are watching the Olympics coverage for more than just Phelps mania. I don't need the camera swinging to him every second, particularly, say, when someone else has just won a medal. Or how Lezak had the performance of his life and yet all we see is repeated slow-mo shots of Phelps cheering from every angle. It's almost pornographic, I swear.

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9 sf

August 14, 2008 at 2:32 PM

^^;; Are you watching the US Olympics? Cuz I swear the Korean version is just Park winning over. and over. and over ^^ But I can definitely feel how seeing the same face over and over can get...repetitive xD