The K-pop star who gave up the Olympics to debut as an idol

To become a K-pop idol, aspiring artists often have to make sacrifices, such as being away from their family, moving to a faraway place, spending hours training tirelessly, or even giving up a promising future in another area to be able to follow their dream of becoming an artist.

That’s what happened to Jackson Wanga member of GOT7, who, before being accepted as a trainee at JYP Entertainment, had a promising career in fencing, and was preparing for the London Olympics, which took place in 2012.

Career in sports

Originally from Hong Kong, Jackson He is the son of former national team athletes, with his mother being a former gymnast and his father a fencing coach. Therefore, from a very young age he was involved in the world of sports, starting in gymnastics, where he was also accepted into the national representative team, remaining until he was 10 years old, when he decided to continue as a fencer.

With swords, the future GOT7 member showed a natural talent. Trained by his father, he won first place in the junior competition, and began preparing for the London Olympics.

In an interview with the program “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, presented by the singer Kelly Clarkson, Jackson revealed that it was during his preparation for the Olympics that he found the courage to admit to his parents his dream of becoming a musician — something that was initially disapproved of.

“I was preparing for the London Olympics at that time. While I was preparing, I just said to my parents, ‘Hey, you know what, I’ve always had this dream about music. Let me do my thing,’” the idol explained. “They wanted me to, of course, go to the Olympics, and it took me seven months to persuade them. They were really against me, and then they were like, ‘You’re crazy.’”

At that time, around the end of 2010, Jackson He ended up being cast by JYP Entertainment by a company employee who observed him while he was playing basketball at the Hong Kong American International School. The young man ended up accepting the proposal, auditioned and came in first place against 2,000 candidates.

However, going to South Korea and giving up his life in sports would not be so easy, as his parents remained reluctant about the decision. Therefore, they gave the boy one condition: he could follow his dream if he won another championship — something he did with flying colors, leaving with two gold medals in the Asian international competition.

He also represented Hong Kong as a sabre fencer at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, finishing 11th in the world. He won the 2011 Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships and was also awarded scholarships to the Universities of Hong Kong and Stanford.