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| ▲ Ahn Sung Soo (’12, Foreign Languages and Literature) poses for the judges during elimination rounds. Photographed by Jeong Ji Hyun | ||
The 49th Mr. Korea University (KU) contest took place on November 9 at the Inchon Memorial Hall. Hosted annually by the weightlifting club of KU, 19 students applied this year to become known as the manliest man of 2012. The event consisted of the following two parts: the preliminary rounds and the finals.
After the opening ceremonies, during which the captain of the weightlifting club gave a speech, the women of the weightlifting club demonstrated a fitness exercise. In the preliminary rounds, contestants came on stage in groups of six to perform seven official positions required by the judges. After assuming the required positions, the contestants took turns performing to the songs that they chose. Loud cheers and applause were heard from the crowd as the contestants showed off their muscles.
Eight contestants made it to the finals where they assumed free positions. After the contestants finished their last performance, judges scored them based on balance of muscles, the state of muscle development, and attitude during positions. After careful deliberation by the judges, the winner of this year’s Mr.KU contest was Ahn Sung Soo (’12, Foreign Languages and Literature). Second place and third place went to Yang Hyun Joon (’12, Foreign Languages and Literature) and Kim Hyun Ho (’07, Display and Semiconductor Physics) respectively. The rookie award and the popularity award were awarded to Choi Hoi Min (’12, Classical Chinese) and Choi Dong Keun (’11, Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering) respectively. Ahn, this year’s Mr. KU, surprised everybody by winning, being a freshman who had never entered the contest before. Ahn said, “It came as a true surprise that I won, considering I am a freshman. It feels like all my efforts and hard work paid off.”
Ahn and other weightlifting club members prepared for this event throughout the year by adhering to a strict diet and working out during the weekdays. Perhaps it was this level of effort and self-control that made these 19 students the manliest men in KU. The contest was quite an experience for the contestants as well as the audience. One of the audience, Kwon Ji Eun (’12, Foreign Languages and Literature) said, “It is not everyday I get to see a bodybuilding contest. It was really something.”