Breaking Through the Rain: First 'Outdoor Opening Ceremony'... Korean Team Enters 48th (Comprehensive) [Paris Olympics]

Korean Team Flag Bearers Track Star Usanghyeok Yu and Swimmer Seoyoung Kim
Confusion in Team Introduction as "North Korea" is Announced Upon Korea's Appearance

The 2024 Paris Olympics officially opened on the Seine River crossing Paris at 2:30 a.m. Korean time on the 27th.

The South Korean team entering by boat floating on the Seine River [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Under the theme of "Games Wide Open," this Olympics attracted attention as the first in the 128-year history of the Games to hold an outdoor opening ceremony outside the stadium. Although it rained continuously throughout the morning in Paris, athletes and citizens enjoyed the festival with joyful expressions.

About 6,000 athletes attending the opening ceremony boarded around 100 boats to enter. They crossed the Seine River with famous Paris landmarks such as Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Louvre Museum, and Place de la Concorde in the background, heading toward Place du Trocad?ro.

The Republic of Korea team entered 48th according to the French alphabetical order, with the country name written as "Cor?e" in French, not "Korea." Flag bearers Woo Sang-hyeok (athletics) and Kim Seo-young (swimming) smiled brightly while waving a large Taegukgi. When it rained, the athletes entered wearing raincoats over their uniforms.

At this time, a ridiculous mistake occurred by the organizing committee. When introducing Korea at the opening ceremony venue, it was mistakenly introduced as "North Korea." The official English country name for Korea is "Republic of Korea." However, the organizing committee introduced the Korean team’s entrance as "Democratic People's Republic of Korea," which refers to North Korea.

When North Korea entered 153rd, the introduction was accurate. According to the organizing committee’s announcements, North Korea entered twice during the opening ceremony.

Similarly, when introducing in French before English, the organizing committee referred to Korea as North Korea (R?publique populaire d?mocratique de Cor?e). On SNS channels including X, sports fans worldwide expressed criticism mixed with disbelief at the organizing committee’s absurd and ridiculous mistake.

Between the entries of the national teams, celebratory performances were held. Pop star Lady Gaga’s dazzling stage was the first performance, followed by about 80 Moulin Rouge dancers performing the French can-can decorating the Seine River.

In particular, a performance expressing gratitude and respect to the artisans and citizens involved in the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral, which collapsed due to a fire in 2019, drew attention.

The South Korean team entering by boat floating on the Seine River [Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The world’s largest sports festival, held again in Paris after 100 years, continues for 17 days until the 11th of next month. Over 10,500 athletes from 206 countries compete in 32 sports for 329 gold medals in beautiful competition.

Korea is participating with 143 athletes in 21 sports at this Games. The goal is to achieve 15th place overall with 5 gold medals.

Korea dispatched 143 athletes in 21 sports due to elimination in Olympic regional qualifiers in ball games and combat sports. This is the smallest scale since the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Lady Gaga's congratulatory performance for the Paris Olympics.
Photo by AP News

The Taeguk Warriors are preparing for the Golden Weekend this weekend. Park Ha-jun (24), Geum Ji-hyun (24), Choi Dae-han (20), and Ban Hyo-jin (17) in the 10m air rifle mixed event, along with swimming’s "golden generation" Hwang Sun-woo (21) and Kim Woo-min (23), will first take on the golden challenge.

Following them, Korea’s fencing Avengers, "Appengers," including Gu Bon-gil (35), Oh Sang-wook (28), and newcomers Park Sang-won (24) and Do Kyung-dong (25), will challenge for a third consecutive Olympic team gold. Song Se-ra (31), Kang Young-mi (39), Choi In-jeong (34), and Lee Hye-in (29), who won the silver medal together in the women’s ?p?e team event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, will reunite as a full team aiming for gold in Paris.

The weekend night awaits the women’s archery team event, which is challenging a record of 10 consecutive Olympic golds. Earlier, in the ranking round on the 25th, they set a new Olympic record with 2046 points, signaling a medal opportunity. Im Si-hyun (21), Nam Soo-hyun (19), and Jeon Hun-young (30) secured the number one seed and will compete on the 28th at 9:38 p.m. against the winner of the Taiwan-USA first-round match for a spot in the semifinals.