As one of the powerhouses in Asia in terms of sporting events, South Korea have always excelled in the Olympic Games. And in this year’s Olympics 2024 is no different, with their delegation already winning a total of 17 medals (eight golds, five silvers and four bronzes)
With a week left before the Olympics 2024 results conclude, we take a look at their highlights so far—and you have to trust us here at SBOTOP because there’s plenty of razzmatazz when it comes to these South Korean athletes.
Kim Ye-ji, welcome to your Kodak moment!
It is no secret that if SoKor want to haul in a tonne of medals, weapon sports are the way to go.
They are the gold standard when it comes to archery, where their dominance dates as far back as the 80s. And they’re not far behind when it comes to shooting either, as they’ve already claimed five medals in this year’s tournament.
But let’s be real about certain things: most will forget the winners and the losers—perhaps only the most ardent of sports enthusiasts and the athletes themselves will remember the nitty-gritty details.
However, when an athlete trends for reasons that pique the human interest for far longer than an Olympic triumph would, add to that with how the world works today, then you’ve got yourself an instant celebrity.
Her photos and videos, which depicts, as the kids say today, ‘aura,’ have proliferated in every nook and cranny of the online world, that if you haven’t been paying attention, you would’ve thought she won the whole thing.
But I cannot lay the blame on those who were in awe of her panache—it’s as if she came straight out of a movie screen the way she effortlessly made things look.
Everything she did in the 27-second clip—which has been spread for who knows how many times now—was the personification of the saying “cool as a cucumber.”
Despite not winning gold—which went to Oh Ye-jin, her 19-year-old teammate, who equally deserves as much applause, if not more—the 32-year-old sharpshooter is now undoubtedly one of the world’s most recognisable athletes.
When arrows fly
Whenever the archery events start at the Olympics, it should be customary to hand the South Korean delegates the gold medals and just take them afterwards in the unlikely event they lose.
I think that’s fair, given their unprecedented superiority in the sport.
Currently, the individual competitions are the only ones left after the team events concluded their final game yesterday.
I’ll give you a hint for which country won the men’s, women’s and mixed divisions—they hold all the Olympic records in archery.
Three-time World Archery champion Kim Woo-jin just won his fourth Olympic gold in the sport after winning gold in both the men’s and mixed team events.
However, Kim can still take his Paris haul to three gold medals, as he is still in the mix to win the men’s individual event.
On the women’s side, the defending nine-time champions just made it 10, after the women’s team led by Lim Si-hyeon, Jeon Hun-young and Nam Su-hyeon edged China out (5-4) last Sunday.
As much as the Olympics 2024 odds have favoured the South Koreans, there were qualms that their longtime reign was in trouble of ending, given the fact that none of the three representatives have been to the Olympics before.
However, that did not stop them in the slightest. Not even when China defeated South Korea in the World Cup stages earlier this year.
And just like the men’s event, the women’s individual crown is still up for grabs, and all things point to yet another South Korean win.
Swashbuckling kings
Guns? Accomplished. Bow and arrow? Done! Swords? Easy as you like.
When you’ve won gold in shooting categories, it’s poetic if you could win one in fencing as well.
In South Korea’s case, it’s not one, but two.
Oh Sang-uk became the first South Korean fencer to win two gold medals at an Olympic tournament after winning both the individual sabre and men’s sabre fencing team titles last week.
This win marked South Korea’s third gold in the men’s sabre team competition; a feat that goes back to London in 2012.
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