"I regret that I couldn't show my true skills at the Paris Olympics because of the burden of having to lead the team. This year, I want to stand on the podium in my best form at the Asian Championships, World Championships, and Asian Games."
Song Se-ra (33, Busan Metropolitan City Hall), the face of South Korea's women's fencing team, recently met with Seoul Economic Daily and said, "The failure I experienced at the Paris Olympics has become valuable medicine."
Song is a living legend in Korean women's epee. In 2022, she became the first women's epee fencer in 20 years to win the individual event at the World Fencing Championships, and in 2023, she claimed gold in the team event at the Hangzhou Asian Games. But she tasted frustration at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where she had entered with high expectations. She was eliminated in the round of 16 in the individual event and failed to win a medal in the team event as well. The shock of going medal-less was significant, given that she had been considered a strong medal contender. "In Paris, I was burdened by the pressure that 'I have to be the one to solve it,'" she said, looking back. "I also couldn't adapt to the stadium atmosphere filled with cheers and the heat from the crowd."
Although she could have been broken by failing to win the Olympic medal she had so longed for, Song tied her fencing shoes tightly once again. Starting with a win in the individual event at the Vancouver World Cup in Canada in November 2025, she has won consecutive international awards: silver at the Barcelona World Cup in Spain this February, bronze at the Budapest Grand Prix in Hungary in March, and runner-up at the Wuxi World Cup in China in May. At the Astana World Cup in Kazakhstan on the 27th of last month, she swept both the individual and team events. "The reason I'm getting good results in recent competitions is largely because I've let go of my impatience for results," Song said. "The failure I experienced at the Paris Olympics has become valuable medicine." She added with a smile, "When I competed with the mindset of doing my own Song Se-ra fencing rather than focusing on results, the results followed, and fencing itself became better than before."
Song picked the team event victory at the Astana World Cup as her best moment since the Olympics. She won the gold medal alongside Lee Hye-in (Ulsan Metropolitan City Hall), Lim Tae-hee (Gyeryong City Hall), and Park So-hyung (Jeonnam Provincial Office). "I told my younger teammates a lot of things like 'Let's go to the end,' 'Let's not be complacent,' and 'We are the best,'" she said. "An atmosphere of mutual trust was created, and we gained the strength to overcome difficult situations during matches. They are younger teammates who really give me great strength," she said, expressing her gratitude.
Currently ranked No. 2 in the world, Song dreams of a happy ending this season. Her goal is to stand on the podium at all the major "big games," starting with the Asian Championships in June, followed by the World Championships in July and the Asian Games in September. She trains herself diligently every day, refining her distinctive "Song Se-ra fencing." "The characteristic of Song Se-ra fencing is its trendiness," she said, analyzing herself. "My strength is flexibly changing my style within the constantly shifting flow of a match and always creating a new look." What Song pursues in fencing is to achieve the goals she has set in her own style. "My biggest goal is to focus on my fencing and show my style at the major international competitions held this year. If I keep moving forward step by step like that, won't a medal end up around my neck?"
