South Korean athletes made history at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, capping off a breathtaking 17-day journey. Even the Korean Sports Federation, with its smallest team in 48 years and a lackluster performance in ball sports, set a target of five gold medals and a 15th place overall ranking, but the team ended the Games with a total of 32 medals, including 13 gold.
The South Korean team finished with 13 gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals, including a silver medal in the women’s weightlifting 81kg and above category won by Park Hye-jung “Post Jangjang-ran” on Nov. 11 (KST). The team is ranked eighth overall.
South Korea sent 144 athletes in 22 sports to the Games. While it was the smallest contingent since Montreal 1976, it was one of the best ever. It tied the record for the most gold medals (13) set at Beijing 2008 and London 2012, and is one shy of the total of 33 medals won at Seoul 1988.
Initially, the Korean Sports Ministry had set a target of five gold medals and 15th place in the overall standings. They far exceeded their targets with strong performances in archery, shooting, fencing, and taekwondo.
In archery, Korea swept all five individual and team events. The women’s team of Lim Im-hyun, Nam Soo-hyun, and Jeon Hoon-young won the team event, making history with an unprecedented 10 consecutive titles, while the men’s team of Kim Woo-jin, Lee Woo-seok, and Kim Jeduk won their third consecutive title.
Kim Woo-jin and Lim Im-hyun were named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Korean team after winning three gold medals each in the individual and mixed team events. With five gold medals, Kim has become South Korea’s most decorated Olympic athlete of all time. In archery alone, South Korea won five golds, one silver (Nam Soo-hyun) and one bronze (Lee Woo-seok) for a total of seven medals at the Games.
Three golden shots rang out in shooting. Park Ha-joon and Ban Ban-hyun gave the team its first medal on the opening day of the Games on March 27, winning silver in the 10-meter mixed air rifle event. They were followed by Oh Ye-jin with gold and Kim Ye-ji with silver in the 10-meter air pistol event.
On March 29, Ban Hyo-jin, a high school marksman at Daegu Chego, won the 10-meter air rifle final. Ban, who has been shooting for less than three years, won the gold medal at the age of 16 years, 10 months, and 18 days, making him the youngest gold medalist in South Korea’s history. She also became the 100th gold medalist in the history of the Summer Games.
Yang Ji-in won gold in the 25-meter pistol and Cho Young-jae took silver in the 25-meter rapid-fire pistol. Shooting proved to be the 카지노 커뮤니티 patriarch of the Korean team, surpassing their previous best result of three gold and two silver medals from London 2012.
The team also set new records in fencing. Oh Sang-wook won gold in the men’s individual sabre event and teamed up with Koo Bon-gil, Park Sang-won, and Do Kyung-dong to win the men’s sabre team title, making it a double win. The Korean men’s sabre team also won their third consecutive team title. The women’s sabre team of Yoon Ji-su, Jeon Ha-young, Choi Se-bin, and Jeon Eun-hye also made history with a silver medal after defeating host nation France in the semifinals.
In taekwondo, Korea defended its dominance with two gold and one bronze medal. Park Tae-joon punched his ticket to Paris with a cool golden kick in the men’s 58-kilogram category. Kim Yoo-jin, ranked 24th in the world, wrote an emotional drama in the women’s 57kg category, defeating the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked athletes one after the other. Lee Da-bin also took home a valuable bronze medal in the women’s 67kg category.
In badminton, world No. 1 Ahn Se-young of South Korea was crowned the “Shuttlecock Empress” in a spectacular coronation, winning the gold medal as expected. Ahn defeated He Bingjiao (China – 9th) in the final to become the first woman to win a singles title in 28 years, since Soo Hyeon Suh at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
Judo, a traditional filial sport, also saw a resurgence.
Heo Mimi, a fifth-generation descendant of independence activist Heo Seok, who renounced her Japanese citizenship in favor of South Korean citizenship in her grandmother’s will, won a silver medal in the women’s 57-kilogram category. Kim Min-jong also became the first Korean judoka to win a silver medal in the heavyweight division. Kim Ha-yoon also won her first women’s judo medal in 24 years. She also won bronze in the mixed team event behind Lee Jun-hwan in the men’s 81kg.
After 12 years, Lim Ae-ji brought an Olympic medal to South Korean boxing. Lim won a prized bronze medal in the women’s 54-kilogram category. It was the first Olympic medal for a South Korean female boxer. Swimming’s Kim Woo-min won bronze in the men’s 400-meter freestyle, while modern pentathlete Seong Seung-min also won bronze on the final day of competition, becoming the first Asian woman to win an Olympic medal. Former table tennis prodigy Shin Yoo-bin won two medals, taking bronze in the mixed doubles with Lim Jong-hoon and bronze in the women’s team event with Jeon Jeon-hee and Lee Eun-hye.