Listing why:
– He was a professional figure skater representing Korea for 10 years. He retired in 2020.
– The sport was his first love. His first dream was to go to the Olympics. He eventually achieved it this year in a different way — as an artist, torchrunner, and ambassador.
– On the way to the 2026 Olympics, he was on the same flight as his old coach.
– Cha Jun-hwan and Kim Hyun-gyeom were old teammates he used to train with and they reunited at the 2026 Olympics.
– When Sunghoon retired from ice skating, he passed down his figure skating clothes to the same friend, Kim Hyun-gyeom. Hyun-gyeom wore Sunghoon’s costumes in competitions years ago. This year, Sunghoon watched him compete at the Olympics.
– Sunghoon saw them both at the Olympics and they’re proud of each other even though they ended up on different paths.
– Back then, when Sunghoon was first accepted into the national team, he was given the official national team jacket with Korea’s logo for training sessions. The men’s size didn’t fit him because he was too small, but it wasn’t technically required to wear the official jacket during training anyway. But Sunghoon was so proud to be part of the team that he borrowed the women’s small sized jacket from the previous year just so he could wear the logo during practice.
Now he was given the same jacket again for the 2026 Winter Olympics as an ambassador. He plans to have it framed.
– This interview he gave — “I’ve gone to the skating rink a few times since debuting, and every time I went, it was fun. When I went to the arena yesterday, I did feel the urge to skate. I found myself imagining what it would feel like and what it would be like if I were standing there in that position.”
In the past, he’s talked about how figure skating is like an old friend but he also said it was lonely to train alone and compete alone back then. Now, he loves being in ENHYPEN with same-age friends, practicing and having fun together. He’s chasing a different dream, but figure skating will always be a part of him.
This was a great ambassadorship. It has so many layers and personal meaning to him, down to the jacket and the friends he’s watching on the ice. It’s amazing how dreams have a way of coming true in a different way than you imagined.
submitted by /u/Desire-Untold
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