US Sports Magazine "Korea Wins 5 Golds... Usanghyeok and Hwang Seonwoo Expected No Medals" [Paris Olympics]

An American sports magazine predicted that South Korea will win five gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On the 26th of last month, national team athletes are taking a commemorative photo at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics D-30 Media Day press conference of the Republic of Korea team held at the Jincheon National Training Center Champion House in Chungbuk. From the left: Archery Kim Je-deok, Badminton Seo Seung-jae, Gymnastics Kim Han-sol, Judo Kim Ha-yoon, Swimming Hwang Sun-woo, Taekwondo Park Tae-jun, Table Tennis Lim Jong-hoon, Weightlifting Park Hye-jung.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Men's Archery Team Event, Women's Team Event, Mixed Team Event, Badminton Men's Doubles, Fencing Men's Sabre Team Event Expected to Win Gold

Men's Archery National Team. From the left, Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok, Lee Woo-seok.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 23rd, the American sports magazine Sports Illustrated (SI) analyzed South Korea's performance at the Paris Olympics in an article predicting medalists for all detailed events, forecasting 5 gold medals, 5 silver medals, and 7 bronze medals. SI anticipated that South Korea will win gold medals in men's archery team event, women's team event, mixed team event, badminton men's doubles (Seo Seung-jae - Kang Min-hyeok), and fencing men's sabre team event.

Silver Medals Predicted for Badminton Women's Singles, Mixed Doubles, Table Tennis Men's Team, and Weightlifter Park Hye-jeong

Silver medals are expected to be won by badminton women's singles player An Se-young, women's doubles pair Lee So-hee (Incheon International Airport) - Baek Ha-na (MG Saemaeul Geumgo), mixed doubles Seo Seung-jae (Samsung Life Insurance) - Chae Yoo-jung (Incheon International Airport), table tennis men's team, and weightlifter Park Hye-jeong (Goyang City Hall) in the women's over 81kg category.

Bronze Medals Forecasted for Archer Kim Woo-jin, Boxer Oh Yeon-ji, Women's Fencing ?p?e Team, Judokas Ahn Ba-ul and Heo Mi-mi, Taekwondo Athletes Seo Geon-woo and Lee Da-bin

Additionally, bronze medals are predicted for archer Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall) in men's individual event, boxer Oh Yeon-ji (Ulsan Metropolitan City Sports Council) in women's 60kg category, women's fencing ?p?e team, judoka Ahn Ba-ul (Namyangju City Hall) in men's 66kg category, judoka Heo Mi-mi (Gyeongbuk Sports Council) in women's 57kg category, taekwondo athlete Seo Geon-woo (Korea National Sport University) in men's 80kg category, and taekwondo athlete Lee Da-bin (Seoul City Hall) in women's over 67kg category.

Swimmers Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min, Athlete Woo Sang-hyeok, Judoka Kim Min-jong, Taekwondo Athlete Park Tae-jun, and Women's Archery Individual Event Excluded from Medal Predictions

National swimming team athlete Hwang Sun-woo. [Photo by Yonhap News]

However, athletes challenging for medals such as swimmers Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min, and track and field athlete Woo Sang-hyeok were excluded from the medal prediction list. Hwang Sun-woo's main event, men's 200m freestyle swimming, is predicted to be won by Romania, while Kim Woo-min's event, men's 400m freestyle swimming, is expected to be won by Germany. In men's high jump, Italy is forecasted to defeat Qatar and claim the gold.

Dark horse judoka Kim Min-jong (Yangpyeong County Office) in men's over 100kg category and taekwondo athlete Park Tae-jun (Kyung Hee University) in men's 58kg category were also excluded from medal forecasts. The magazine predicted that South Korea will not win any medals in the women's individual archery event, which is considered a strategic gold medal event for the country. It forecasted that Mexico's Alejandra Valencia, Czech Republic's Marie Hor??kov?, and the United States' Kacey Koppold will win gold, silver, and bronze medals respectively and stand together on the podium.

'Men's Soccer France Victory' American Media Also Made Some Errors... "Predictions Are Just Predictions"

Badminton national team player An Se-young. [Photo by Yonhap News]

However, the media made some errors, such as predicting that An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) and Akane Yamaguchi, who are highly likely to meet in the quarterfinals, will compete in the finals with An Se-young winning the silver medal. Additionally, in women's boxing 66kg category, they included Beatriz Soares from Brazil, who will not participate in the Paris Olympics, as a bronze medal contender.

Meanwhile, the media predicted that host country France will win the men's soccer gold by defeating Argentina, and American Noah Lyles will sweep the men's 100m and 200m track events. For North Korea, it analyzed that wrestler Moon Hyun-kyung in women's freestyle 62kg category will be the only athlete to reach the podium with a silver medal.