The arcade boy becomes the first Asian Games gold medalist.
If you watch a drama set in the 1980s or 1990s, there is a scene that always appears. A child piles coins at an arcade and is absorbed in Street Fighter, Galaga, Tetris, etc., and a mother runs up at a fast pace and slaps the child on the back. In the digital age, arcades now exist only as a memory of the past, and PC rooms are now taking over the role of arcades. However, there was a small 'incident' that brought out old memories during last Chuseok holiday. It was 44-year-old Kim Kwan-woo’s gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
The sport in which Kim Kwan-woo won the gold medal was none other than ‘Street Fighter.’ It's that street fighter that was played in arcades back in the day. This game, first produced in arcades in 1987, caused a worldwide boom with the second series introduced in 1991. For the first time in video game history, players chose one of eight characters with unique skills and fought one-on-one using techniques such as grabbing, throwing, and long blasts, and it was incredibly popular at the time. Those who dream of becoming video martial arts kings flock to arcades. In that era, someone was ‘Ryu’ and someone was ‘Chun-Li’.
It is the fifth series introduced by Capcom in 2016 to be selected as an Asian Games event. e-Sports became an official sport for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games, including Street Fighter 5, League of Legends (LoL), FC Online (formerly FIFA Online) 4, Battleground Mobile, Glory of the Prince (Arena of Valor), Romance of the Dream Kingdoms 2, It was divided into 7 sub-events, including Dota 2. StarCraft 2, which was a demonstration sport at the 2018 Jakarta/Palembang Games, was excluded from this competition.
Kim Kwan-woo, who became the inaugural Street Fighter Asian Games champion, even wiped away tears at the press conference. At a time when Asian Games gold medals were precious, who would have predicted that arcade games would become a medal sport at the Asian Games? If you were to jump into a time machine and go back to the late 1980s and say something like this, you would almost certainly hear a “crazy X” sound. It is also true that Street Fighter, which every man in his 40s and 50s has tried at least once, seems far removed from the Asian Games.
Born in 1979, Kim Kwan-woo's life was filled with street fighters. He has been going to the arcade since it was 50 won per game. Because he was a super expert, there were quite a few times when he almost got beaten up by the ‘scary neighborhood guys.’ He looks back and says, “The biggest crisis in my gaming life was when the price went up from 50 won to 100 won per game. In the end, I even paid for the bus fare and started walking.” There was a time when people looked at you unkindly when you went in and out of the arcade. “I think only people in their 40s will understand, but if they caught me going to the arcade at school, I would get scolded. In fact, my parents didn’t like it either. At some point, they gave up. If I got first place, they would be happy, and if I got second place, they would be sad and wonder why I couldn’t get first place.”
An ordinary office worker, he quit his job about three years ago and began working as a game streamer. Last year, he also won the Korean region at the Capcom Cup, the most prestigious competition in Street Fighter. After he was selected to represent the national team, he trained up to 10 hours a day with the help of experts hidden throughout the country. It is said that Kim Kwan-woo had this thought after defeating Taiwan's Xiang Yu-lin with a set score of 4-3 with just one Vega character in the finals. ‘I am not finished. It's not over yet. 'We will continue to fight.' Those steeped in Street Fighter nostalgia might have had similar thoughts while looking at Kim Kwan-woo’s gold medal.
If Street Fighter is a so-called 'old man' game, LoL is currently the most popular e-sport among the 1020 generation. Korea lost to China at the 2018 Jakarta/Palembang Games, but defeated China in the semifinals at the Hangzhou Games and defeated Taiwan in the final. In 2018, ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok Lee was the starting player, but ‘Chovy’ Jeong Ji-hoon showed strength in this tournament. Lee Sang-hyuk did not participate in the finals after the semifinals due to cold symptoms.
In addition to Lee Sang-hyeok and Jeong Ji-hoon, the LoL national team for this tournament consisted of Choi “Zeus” Woo-jae, Seo “Carnaby” Jin-hyeok, Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk, and Ryu “Keria” Min-seok. Among them, Lee Sang-hyuk is a player who enjoys global popularity to the extent that he is called the Jordan (basketball) or Messi (soccer) of e-sports. The current estimated annual salary alone amounts to 7 billion won. He is such a ‘star among stars’ that even national team players from other countries participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games were eager to get a photo with Lee Sang-hyuk.
In addition to Street Fighter and LoL, Korea's Battleground Mobile team consisting of Soon-bin 'Beanie' Kwon, Yeong-jae 'Cjae' Choi, Dong-hyeon 'TiG' Kim, Seong-hyeon 'Sporta' Kim, and Sang-cheol 'Favian' Park won the silver medal, and Jun-hyuk Kwak won the bronze medal in FC Online. hung around his neck. It won medals in all four sports it participated in, showing off its status as an e-sports powerhouse.
Although it has become an official event in the Asian Games, questions still remain as to whether e-sports are truly sports. E-sports has never been held as a demonstration sport at the Olympics yet. Previously, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reviewed the e-sports plan for the 2018 Olympics and said, "It is difficult to accept 'killer games' that harm someone because they are contrary to the values of the Olympics. Of course, fighting sports also originated from fighting, but through civilization, they became sports. He said, “It has established itself as .”
In relation to this, Lee Sang-hyeok, a symbolic figure in e-sports, said after winning the gold medal at the Asian Games, "The existing concept of sports is to move your body and be active, but what is more important than that is that the process of playing and preparing has a positive influence on many people and encourages competition. “If the appearance creates inspiration, I think that is the most important meaning as a sport,” he said. He continued, "I can confidently say that LoL is the most popular sport in Korea. Even if my parents' generation knows the game, they often only know StarCraft, but when I listen to the explanation with my children, it is the biggest sport in itself. “It could be joy,” he emphasized.
It is unknown whether e-sports will be adopted as an official Olympic sport in the future. E-sports has also been selected as an official event at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. LoL or Battleground Mobile may remain as subcategories. However, the fate of other e-sports sports, such as Street Fighter, is unknown. What is clear, though, is that e-sports are recognized as ‘sports’, at least in the Asian Games. The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) recognizes that different times require a different perspective on sports.
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