Jackson talks about giving up the Olympics and a Stanford scholarship for his dreams 

Jackson talks about giving up the Olympics and a Stanford scholarship for his dreams

GOT7\'s Jackson talked about the sacrifices he made for his K-Pop dreams on Chinese variety show \'Go Fridge\'. 

Jackson explained how he had to let down the high hopes of his father as well as his peers for his great passion for K-Pop. The idol star, who was once Hong Kong\'s national fencing representative, even turned down a scholarship for Stanford University, and even the chance to join Hong Kong\'s national team for the London Olympics. 

SEE ALSO: GOT7\'s Jackson reaches his first million on Weibo

Ultimately, Jackson gave up all those things and decided to start from the bottom as a trainee, rather than becoming a fencing star. Fortunately for him, Jackson\'s passion and hard effort has paid off, and he\'s touching many hearts with his success story. 

Listen to how Jackson came to be a top idol star in the clip above. 

Red Velvet\'s Joy alarms everyone by collapsing during a performance

You do you Jackson, I will support whatever makes you happy.

Why do people think he wasted an opportunity! It\'s his life and he is living it to the fullest! Jackson is the kind of person who can succeed in anything he wants, cause he does things he loves! That\'s what matters in life  ultimately! I am disappointed in people talking how he wasted and all..it\'s not your life it\'s his life and he knows what\'s best for him! For me he is an inspiration!

fencing "star".... fencers who do well become masters.. not stars.. anyway... would\'ve been awesome if he went to the olympics, and then started his traineeship.. but i guess he decided to do it after the youth championships (iirc), and not after the olympics. A bit of a shame really...

I love him but he wasted it big time, become idol is only temporary jobs and people easily move their focus  from them. And you cannot dancing and sing like that until you old. He is not gdragon who genious in making music. Gdragon could go by himself and still relevant in this industry for long time. But i wish jackson success tho.

Perhaps an idol\'s career can be short (although I\'m hoping GOT7 will last a long time like Shinhwa), but Jackson is more than an idol. He has a future as an all-around entertainer: comedian, actor, MC, or even a solo artist if he so desires. He doesn\'t have to be a musical genius to be a life-long celebrity. Even at this young age he already stands out for his talent in all aspects of entertainment, and it would also have been wasted if he hadn\'t pursued his dream. It\'s a shame he didn\'t go on to the Olympics, but if he did he might have missed the opportunity to be in GOT7, and to be loved by so many people. In the end, I\'m so glad and thankful he made that choice, but I also respect him for making such a difficult decision.

My sis would\'ve say he wasted those opportunities. She\'s not a kpop fan, but I told her Jackson was training for Olympic before he decided he wants to become a singer. She always says he wasted that opportunity. Me... I\'d say Jackson, you do whatever you want because only you know what\'s best for you. His determination and passion for life and goal is really admirable and I love him for that. I wish I can just have 10% of his passion... maybe my life will be a ton different.

They were good offers would\'ve taken it.  GOT7 are not even popular and they suck.

So what.. Being a Stanford graduate wasn\'t his dream.. Why go for something that you don\'t even like doing.. The most important thing is he\'s happy and doing what he like to do.. I\'d rather apploud for his courage at so young age..

That\'s your opinion though. All their first shows in USA are sold out to the point where they had to add second dates in NYC and LA. That says a lot in itself

tbh though, an olympic trumps everything else really. he should\'ve gone to the olympics and THEN joined as a trainee. Being an athlete at an Olympics game is probably the biggest thing you can ever do as an athlete.That alone would\'ve given him an immediate chance in a kpop group. I mean, what label could resist having an olympic athlete in their idol group? Imagine all the headlines and free PR that alone would give them.

Well that kidda of make sense..I wonder why didn\'t he do that... May be he really so badly needed to do music.. However he\'s a one young brace dude

Well, he IS technically an Olympian. He competed in the Junior Olympics. TBH, yeah that would\'ve probably been a pretty sweet PR Opportunity but JYP\'s milked all that they could with JS\' fencing past. It\'s not like it\'s gonna be his identity forever.

wow Olympics and a standford university offer! :O Im kinda glad he didnt go that route but then again no haha! because we wouldnt know about him and what would got7 be like without him :O but then imagine his career right now if he won a gold in the Olympics either way he would still be known somehow

he would\'ve been too young to win a gold. most likely he wouldn\'t have participated but been a backup as he wud be just 18 at the time

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