[GLOBAL ECONOMIC TIMES] "Ski player, wheelchair dance sports player, painter, poet, singer Kim Namje is an all-around artist"
Kim Namje was a skier
Kim started skiing when he was six. He was a skier from his third grade in elementary school until graduating from college, and was a member of the national team from 1980 to 1985. He joined the army as a bachelor's officer and was discharged as a lieutenant in the Special Forces Brigade. He was able to serve in the military because he was confident in his military career due to his health that had been strengthened by exercise.
After finishing college, he joined the Muju Resort Sports Management Team and was passionately working, including skiing classes. Ahead of Children's Day in 1992, Muju Resort prepared a Children's Day event, but it was a big event, so it was held with an agency.
It was the day of the general rehearsal on May 4. The spring wind blew hard that day. When he took off in a paraglider, he had to stop the ski lift, but it was strangely working. The moment I thought, 'What's wrong with him?' The line of the paraglider slightly touched the lift and crashed at a high speed. The line was broken. It was the moment when Kim Nam-je developed paraplegic disorder. He had been parachuted countless times while serving in a special forces unit, but he was helpless.
Legend of Korea's Disabled Skiing
His life has changed a lot since he became disabled. He lost a lot. However, he became the first Korean to participate in the Nagano Winter Paralympics in 1998 as a sit-ski. Although he was a sit-ski, returning to the snowfield gave him new hope.
He then led the Korean national team as both an athlete and a coach at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Paralympics and the 2006 Turin Winter Paralympics. Kim made history in allowing Han Sang-min to win a silver medal in snow events for the first time in the history of the general Winter Olympics as a coach at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Paralympics. It served as an opportunity to let the world know that Korea was weak in the Winter Olympics.
He played a role in promoting the 2018 Pyeongchang Competition to be held in Korea four years later by performing at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympic Games. With the national coach of the alpine skiing team at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Paralympic Games, the sports world's activities have concluded.
For 20 years, he started as a skier in the disabled winter sports and became a legend of Korean disabled skiing, performing unrivaled as a coach and a coach.
Dancing as a wheelchair dance sports athlete
Kim Nam-je, who is talented in many fields, challenged wheelchair dance sports. It was in 2005 that he first encountered wheelchair dance sports. Wheelchair dance sports have five sports in combination Latin, and although athletes usually compete in discontinued sports, he made a strong impression by performing in five sports at his first appearance in a competition held in Japan in 2010.
At that time, Japan's Suzuki was dominating as the number one player, and even in the worst condition without a Korean referee, he beat Suzuki to win the championship, causing an unexpected event.
Kim Nam-je emerged as a powerhouse in wheelchair dance sports when she met her partner Kim Na-hyun in 2012. She ranked first in Asian competitions, and advanced to the final at the 2013 Russia World Championships, becoming the first Asian country to rank third in free Latin and fourth in world in five combination Latin events, elevating Korea's wheelchair dance sports to world-class levels.
Skiing helped a lot in wheelchair dance. The rhythm of ski swing and turn was the same as that of dance, and the angle of ski was also an essential skill when dancing in a wheelchair.
Awakening the dream of a sleeping singer
Kim was born in 1962 as the fifth in the family of four sisters. Of course, she has a younger brother, but her mother bet everything on her eldest son, Kim. So she prayed at dawn every day before her son passed away after he was forced to use a wheelchair in an accident.
Her dream was to become a singer when she was in middle school. She sang so well that she was already a singer among her friends. As a player, she relaxed by singing. However, after the accident, she forgot about singing for a while. But when she started skiing for the disabled, she started singing again. In 2009, she performed at Kbs Radio "Lee Moo-song and Lim Soo-min's Hope Song" through Ju Jang-won and Woljang-won, before reaching the final round at Kbs Hall.
After that, he went to singing competitions such as the Gunpo City Disabled Song Festival Grand Prize, the Gunpo City Citizen's Song Festival Grand Prize, and the Peace Unification Song Festival Gold Prize and achieved good results. He usually sang trot songs. But he thought that his dream of becoming a singer could not come true.
Then, when I met Bae Eun-joo, CEO of the Korean International Art Troupe for the Disabled, I realized that my dreams come true. I was invited to do wheelchair dance at a KINTEX performance and met Bae Eun-joo, the CEO, and she was a singer herself. Finally, I met a benefactor who would guide me on the path of becoming a singer.
Kim Nam-je came to the stage while working as a member of the Korean International Art Troupe for the Disabled.
Singer Kim Nam-je stands on stage
Kim Nam-je, who won the gold prize in 2019 by participating in the Disability Star Discovery Project Ieum Song Festival, was given the opportunity to produce an album due to his injury, and made his first digital single, "Desperado". For about a year, he prepared for vocal training as well as his debut as a singer.
"Desperado" is an affectionate lyric for his beloved wife, which contains the power and passion of love of a man who, like an outlaw in the wilderness, never stops when it comes to love. The passionate samba-style trot song "Desperado" is aimed at middle-aged people with strong melodies that are unwittingly attracted and popularity that anyone can easily sing along to.
When Kim Nam-je sings "Desperado", it is his beloved wife who dances as a backup dancer. Seven years have passed since he met his wife who performs Valley Dance and married her. Kim Nam-je repeatedly prepares hard for practice to present wonderful performances of singing and dancing to the audience through collaboration with his wife.
Now he is happiest when he is on stage as a singer. People ask him which one do you prefer, exercise, dance or singing, but he likes everything.
That's because I did my best at the time. My only hope is that I will run and sing wherever I want to hear my own songs as a singer.
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