As the countdown to golf’s return to the Olympic Games reaches another milestone today with exactly 12 months to the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, An Byeong-hun spoke of his own personal goal of following in the footsteps of his parents.
The BMW PGA Championship winner is the son of Ahn Jae-hyung and Jiao Zhimin, both of whom won Olympic medals in table tennis in the 1988 Games.
With the Olympic flame set to be lit a year from today, An, who will make his debut at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational this week, has his eyes set firmly on matching, or even bettering the achievements of his parents next summer.
"It (the Olympics) is one of the biggest sporting events in the world," the Korean said. "It is held once every four years, and it will be great to play in the Olympics next year because my parents have played in it already.
"After I heard the announcement that golf will be involved in the Olympics, I thought, 'okay then, let's try to make the Korean team'.
"My dad won bronze and my mum won silver and bronze. Hopefully, I will get one of the medals. It would be nice if it is a gold; one better than them. That would be nice.
"It is great to represent a country at a sports event and compete with others.
"I am really looking forward to next year. It is going to be exciting and fun."
Rio will host Olympic golf for the first time since 1904, with 60 players qualifying in each of the men's and women's events.
The top 15 players in the World Rankings will be eligible for the Games, with a maximum of two players from each country thereafter, while host nation Brazil are guaranteed to have one player in each competition.
Ty Votaw, the vice president of the International Golf Federation, is delighted to see the sport return to one of the biggest stages in world sport.
He said: "We are excited about the golf course. We are excited about our entry back into the Olympic Games because we think golf is good for the Olympics, and we think the Olympics will be a great stage for the top players on both the men's and women's side of the game to compete and bring new eyeballs to our sport from around the world.
"If the Olympics were held today, there would be approximately 35 countries represented on the men's side, 34 countries represented on the women's side. "Interestingly enough, of the 60 players on the men's side who would qualify as of today, 30 of those players are in the field this week at the Bridgestone Invitational."
World Number Nine Henrik Stenson is relishing the prospect of representing his country at the Games.
He said: "To compete there and then hopefully have a chance to win a medal for Sweden would be something very special.
"I think it is going to be something very special for the player who wins the gold medal to be the first one to win gold since golf's return to the Olympics.
"It is going to be a very strong achievement and something you will certainly be remembered for, for the rest of your life. So I am very much looking forward to it.
"I think it has been good for the game of golf worldwide. We have seen a lot more support in some emerging markets around the world for golf.
"With it being an Olympic sport, that really makes a difference in a lot of places. So that has been good.
"With one year to go, I cannot wait to get there."
