Embraces greet Olympian Skylar Park upon return to Winnipeg
Taekwondo bronze medallist honours her extended family — and hopes for a day off
For the next few days, unless her coach of a father has something to say about it, Olympic bronze medallist Skylar Park won't have to think about preparing for her next taekwondo match.
The only Manitoban athlete to win a medal at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris — and only the third Canadian to medal in taekwondo at any Olympics — returned home to Winnipeg on Monday night and declared she had nothing but rest and relaxation on her immediate agenda.
"As athletes, we're just always constantly thinking about how to optimize our performance in every decision that we make. And I think with some time off, it will allow me to clear my brain of that a little and just enjoy the moment," the 25-year-old said near the foot of the escalator in the arrivals area of Winnipeg James Richardson International Airport.
Park said she is "running on adrenaline" after her bronze-medal match victory on Thursday against Lebanon's Laetitia Aoun, "a whirlwind" of a weekend in Paris, followed by an airport greeting by a crowd of about 100 family members, friends, taekwondo students and other well-wishers.
Her immediate family functions as her team — her mother Andrea, father Jae and brothers Braven and Tae-Ku have all played roles in her decades of preparation for the Olympics and other competitions. Her extended family holds 16 black belts in taekwondo.
"There are so many people who are so instrumental in this medal and that performance," Park said of her victory, which she has repeatedly described as a group effort despite the individual nature of taekwondo competition.
Following her transatlantic flight home, Park signed autographs for little kids, some wearing taekwondo doboks and many staying up past their bedtimes.
"A lot of the kids here are students at the [taekwondo] academy," she said, explaining she does not take lightly the role-model platform she's been afforded.
Special honour for her grandfather
Park also embraced relatives and reserved a special honour for her grandfather, Deuk Hwa Park. She beamed as she placed her bronze medal around the neck of the taekwondo grand master.
"He's the one who started it all. He's the one who started the dream," she said. "He's always told me to bring home an Olympic medal."
The elder Park said his "chest really went boom" as he watched his granddaughter win.
While Skylar Park described her bronze medal as "not the colour we'd hoped," she said she's "definitely hungry" for a gold medal at the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028.
For now, though, she said she is not going to think about training for the next day.
"I think I'll have some time off, I'm hoping," she joked. "I mean, you can talk to my dad, later."
