"No Medals for Swimmers Not a Budget Issue... Committee Claims It Was a Lawful Action"

Contradicts World Aquatics and Olympic Council of Asia Regulations
No Certificates Provided... Also Differs from Announced Operating Plan

The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee explained its decision not to give medals to swimmers who only participated in relay event preliminaries by stating, "This action was taken in accordance with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Charter."

On the 23rd at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, the Korean team consisting of Kim Seungwon, Choi Dongyeol, Ahn Sehyun, and Kim Yongbeom (from left) posed on the podium after winning the bronze medal by finishing third in the mixed 400m medley relay final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

On the 26th, Yonhap News Agency reported that, regarding the non-awarding of medals to swimmers in relay preliminaries, the organizing committee responded, "This matter was handled lawfully according to the OCA Charter," and emphasized, "This was not a decision made for budgetary reasons."

However, this claim conflicts with the regulations of World Aquatics, the international governing body of the sport. Article 12, Section 1 of the World Aquatics competition rules states, "In swimming relay events where there is a preliminary round, medals must be awarded to all swimmers who participated in either the preliminary or final races."

It is also at odds with the OCA Charter itself. The revised 2024 OCA Charter stipulates, "OCA competitions are conducted according to the technical regulations of the International Federation (IF)." This means that for the swimming events at the Asian Games, it is a principle of the OCA Charter to follow the rules set forth by World Aquatics. In other words, the organizing committee interpreted the charter in an arbitrary manner. Additionally, the operating plan for the Games, which was initially made public by the committee, clearly stated that both medals for top finishers and Certificates of Merit would be produced.

Furthermore, although the organizing committee claimed, "This is not a cost issue," even physical certificates, which should have been presented to the winners on site, were not printed. Instead, each national team was simply informed that digital files would be sent and that they should handle the printing themselves. The current Games have promoted a "low-cost, eco-friendly" model since the bidding stage, with a focus on maximizing the reuse of existing venues and drastically reducing operating expenses.

The day before, Kim Minseop (Gyeongbuk Sports Council), who won the bronze medal in the men’s 200m butterfly final at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, said, "I was disappointed to hear that relay preliminary swimmers would not be awarded medals," bringing attention to the fact that neither physical medals nor certificates were provided. Kim Woomin (Gangwon Provincial Government), who participated in the men's 400m relay preliminary round despite a shoulder injury to ease the load on his teammates and helped win a silver medal, is also reportedly among those who did not receive a medal.

A Korea Swimming Federation official expressed confusion, saying, "At the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games throughout history, and even the Korean National Sports Festival, physical medals have always been awarded equally to all swimmers who competed in relay event preliminaries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.