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| Shortrack speedskater Kwak Yoon-gy holds a plush toy panda, the mascot of the Games, after the Korean team took the silver medal in the men's 5,000-meter relay at Beijing 2022 at Capital Indoor Stadium, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Lee Hae-rin
Short track speedskater Kwak Yoon-gy, of the Korean team that took silver in the men's 5,000-meter relay at Beijing 2022, Wednesday, will receive a YouTube Gold Creator Award to mark his channel reaching a million subscribers, Thursday.
YouTube recognizes active creators based on subscriber numbers by giving silver, gold, diamond, and red diamond play buttons to those who reach 100,000, one million, 10 million, and 100 million subscribers, respectively.
Kwak started his YouTube channel "Kwakjoba, Yoon-gy," which means "Hold on tight, Yoon-gy" in English, in April 2019. The channel saw a sharp increase in its subscribers from 170,000 before the Beijing Olympics to 106 million as of Thursday.
In his YouTube videos, Kwak introduces himself as a "sports-teller" and a "short track researcher," sharing details of his daily life outside the ice rink.
Some video logs show Kwak and other Korean skaters celebrating the Lunar New Year together and Kwak receiving a COVID-19 vaccination in Seoul. The number of videos on Kwak's channel has reached 333 as of Thursday.
The channel uploaded a video of Kwak playing with Korean skater Kim A-lang and the Dutch national skate team during the 2021 Netherlands World Cup the game of ttakji-chigi ― a Korean game played by throwing paper squares where the winning player gets to slap the loser's face ― which drew attention from global viewers after it was seen in the global smash-hit Netflix series "Squid Game." The video has reached 3.19 million views.
The video was applauded by Korean and international audiences alike. A Korean viewer wrote, "This is the true spirit of the Olympics, coming together to become friends and have fun." A Dutch viewer commented, "The YouTube algorithm works very well, it's crazy how these videos were recommended to me."
Kwak previously said he aims to "become the first YouTuber to win an Olympic medal" at the 2022 Winter Olympics and achieved the goal by winning the silver medal in the men's 5,000-meter race.
"(When I started YouTube) I wished more people would get interested in short track and I feel I came close to making that happen, with one million subscribers who watch the sport. I really appreciate it," Kwak told the joint press at the mixed zone after the game, Wednesday.
In many videos on the channel, Kwak is seen having a great time with peer players. For example, a video uploaded in July 2021 shows Kwak playing a ghost leg game with the male national team members at the athletes' dormitories in Taebaek, Gangwon Province.
On his future career as a skater and YouTuber, Kwak said, "Even if I don't make it to the Milano Winter Olympics in 2026 as a skater, I plan to go as a YouTuber," during the interview with the joint press, Wednesday. "I will continue to work on promoting short track skating in a fun way."
