[Yonhap News Photo]
Slumping South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan has pulled out of his last race at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Park will not compete in the 1,500m freestyle, an official with the South Korean delegation said, and will leave Rio on Thursday. The 1,500m was scheduled for Saturday.
Competing in his fourth Olympics, Park failed to get out of the heats in his first three races: the 400m free, 200m free and 100m free. Park is the 2008 Olympic champion and 2012 silver medalist in the 400, and he won 200m silver medals in both 2008 and 2012.
Park on Tuesday had hinted he may not enter the 1,500m free, citing a lack of training for the long-distance event.
The 26-year-old said he'd like to compete in his fifth Olympics in Tokyo four years from now. Park served an 18-month doping suspension that ended in March this year and had to battle the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) in the international sports court to get his Rio ban lifted last month.'
(Yonhap)
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