Taeguk Warriors Laugh at New 'Gold Gold Gold' History, Cry Over IOC Mistake [Paris Olympics]

The national team players who won the gold medal in the women's team archery final against China at the 2024 Paris Olympics are posing with their gold medals around their necks. From left to right: Jeon Hun-young, Lim Si-hyun, Nam Su-hyun.
Photo by Yonhap News

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At the 2024 Paris Olympics, which opened on the 26th (local time), the South Korean national team won 3 gold medals, 2 silver medals, and 1 bronze medal over the weekend. These valuable achievements came from shooting, fencing, and archery. This year, with many team sports such as men's soccer eliminated in the qualifiers, the delegation was formed with the smallest number of athletes (143) since the 1976 Montreal Games.

On the first day of the competition, the 27th, the first good news came from the 10m air rifle mixed event in shooting. Park Hajun (KT) and Geum Jihyun (Gyeonggi Province Office) won the silver medal after losing 12-16 in the final against China’s Sheng Lihao and Huang Wuiting. Following that, Kim Woo-min (Gangwon Province Office) won the bronze medal in the men’s 400m freestyle swimming event.

Men’s fencing star Oh Sanguk (Daejeon Metropolitan City Office) won the gold medal by defeating Tunisia’s Fares Ferjani 15-11 in the men’s sabre individual final. This was the first gold medal of the Games. Notably, Oh Sanguk was praised for both his performance and sportsmanship, as he helped his fallen opponent up despite ongoing referee reversals, showing composure throughout.

Osangwook, who won the gold medal in the men's sabre fencing event at the 2024 Paris Olympics, is celebrating while holding the Taegeukgi flag.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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On the 28th, the sound of golden gunfire echoed. Oh Yejin (IBK Industrial Bank) and Kim Yeji (Imsil County Office) won gold and silver medals respectively in the 10m air pistol event. This marked the first time in 12 years since the 2012 London Olympics that South Korean shooters won both gold and silver medals together, following Jin Jong-oh (gold) and Choi Young-rae (silver) in the 50m pistol event.

The ‘flagship sport’ archery upheld its pride. Jeon Hunyung (Incheon City Office), Lim Siyun (Korea National Sport University), and Nam Suhyun (Suncheon City Office) won the gold medal in the women’s team archery final, achieving the ‘10th consecutive Olympic gold’ legend. After a fierce battle against China that went to a shoot-off, the team won 5-4 and shed tears upon securing the championship.

On the other hand, Hwang Sunwoo (Gangwon Province Office), South Korea’s swimming ace who had won medals at three consecutive World Championships for the first time, was eliminated after finishing 9th out of 16 in the men’s 200m freestyle semifinal with a time of 1:45.92. Although considered a strong medal contender, he unfortunately exited the competition early.

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The Paris Olympics held the opening ceremony on the riverbank for the first time in history. During the ceremony along the Seine River in Paris, athletes entered by boat, and the announcer mistakenly introduced South Korea as ‘North Korea’ in both French and English. While foreign media praised the opening ceremony as a groundbreaking new attempt that broke stereotypes, Korean viewers criticized it as an unprecedented blunder. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) apologized to President Yoon Suk-yeol by phone and issued an official apology statement on its website.

Another controversy arose when the official Paris Olympics social media account posted a photo where only the South Korean flag was blurry. The post, titled ‘New delegations are gaining attention,’ showed clear faces and flags of athletes from countries like Cuba and Denmark, but the photo of South Korea featured athletes’ backs and a blurry Taegeukgi flag, leading to accusations of discrimination. Additionally, the organizing committee was criticized for mistakenly spelling fencing gold medalist Oh Sanguk’s name as ‘Oh Sangku’ on social media.

Flag bearers of the South Korean Olympic team, Woo Sang-hyeok (right) and Kim Seo-young, are seen traveling by boat along the Seine River in Paris, France, on the 26th (local time) to attend the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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Debate continues over the ‘low-carbon Olympics’ athlete village at the Paris Games. Six members of the South Korean men’s 800m freestyle relay swimming team?Kim Woo-min, Hwang Sunwoo, Yang Jaehoon (all from Gangwon Province Office), Lee Hojun (Jeju City Office), Lee Yooyeon (Goyang City Office), and Kim Younghyun (Anyang City Office)?complained about the discomfort of long hours spent on hot buses and moved out of the Olympic Village to a hotel just a 5-minute walk from the competition venue.

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