"The sweat that athletes in minor and newly added sports pour out should not end with a brief moment in the spotlight on a grand stage like the Asian Games," said Lee Sang-hyun, chief of South Korea's delegation to the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. "My deepest hope is that the many sports the public discovers through the Asian Games take root as grassroots sports that people enjoy and take part in themselves in daily life."
Lee, 49, met with Seoul Economic Daily reporters recently at the offices of Taein in Seoul's Gangnam district, and stressed "making sports part of everyday life" throughout the interview.
Lee, who also serves as chief executive of Taein, a company specializing in earth leakage circuit breakers and semiconductor memory module assembly, was deputy chief of the delegation at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. This year he leads a delegation of 1,052 athletes competing in 41 sports.
Lee, currently president of the Korea Cycling Federation and an auditor at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, understands the value of minor and newly added sports better than most. "From teqball, which combines soccer and table tennis, to mixed martial arts, esports and breaking, athletes in sports that have long been overlooked and denied the limelight will also compete wearing the national flag," he said. "I hope this competition gives people a reason to think, 'There's a sport like that. Maybe I should try it myself.'"
He added: "Like the government's Sports Policy Vision 2030, which sees sports as a key to changing people's lives, I want to help build a foundation where the excitement of elite sports feeds back into a broader base for grassroots sports."
Lee's affection for and commitment to amateur sports runs in the family. His maternal grandfather, the late Koo Tae-hoi, honorary chairman of LS Cable, served as president of the Korea Weightlifting Federation, and his father, Lee In-jung, president of the Union of Asian Alpine Associations, led the Korean Alpine Federation for 11 years from 2005. He comes from a rare lineage of sports administrators who have looked after the neglected corners of elite athletics across three generations.
Carrying on that family commitment, Taein has run the Taein Sports Scholarship since 1990, now in its 37th year, supporting more than 800 young prospects in track and field, weightlifting, archery, handball and hockey. "My grandfather's and my father's reputations are on the line, so I have no choice but to approach this with a deep sense of responsibility and sincerity," Lee said. "Raising the profile of minor sports and drawing public interest is what I have to do as delegation chief."
He continued: "I want to build a solid virtuous cycle in which sports that draw attention attract sponsorships, and that interest flows back into athlete support and a wider base for grassroots sports."
In preparing for the Asian Games, Lee has been out in the field himself in the name of "One Team Korea." He set up a coffee truck at the national training center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, and worked as a barista to meet athletes, and visited training sessions sport by sport, including karate, wrestling, swimming, volleyball and taekwondo.
"While watching weight training at the wrestling hall, every time an athlete lifted the barbell I found myself clenching my lips and tensing my whole body," he said. "It was a moment when I became one with the athletes and felt 'One Team Korea' completely. The role of a delegation chief is not to read encouraging remarks from a podium, but to breathe alongside the athletes on the floor of the training hall."
Lee's goal for these Asian Games is to make sure no athlete on the team feels alone. "Every athlete competing at the Asian Games is a star on their own stage," he said. "On the ground, I will be a dependable shield that puts their safety and performance first, and I will do my utmost to make sure that hard-earned sweat bears fruit by getting the public to lace up their own sneakers in daily life."
