Korea, Record Most Gold Medals... Overall Ranking from 16th to 8th in 3 Years [Paris Olympics]

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The South Korean delegation achieved remarkable results at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Although it was a small elite group of 144 athletes competing in twenty-one events, they finished the competition ranked 8th overall.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 11th (local time), South Korea concluded the Games with thirteen gold medals, nine silver medals, and ten bronze medals. The number of gold medals tied the country's highest Olympic record, previously set at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Games. In Beijing 2008, South Korea added eleven silver and eight bronze medals to finish 7th, while in London 2012, they earned nine silver and nine bronze medals, finishing 5th.

The total medal count was thirty-two, matching the 2008 Beijing Games. This was just one medal short of the all-time record of thirty-three medals (twelve gold, ten silver, eleven bronze) set at the 1988 Seoul Games.

The results were unexpected. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee initially set a target of five gold medals for this Games. This was because the size of the delegation had shrunk to its smallest in 48 years since the 1976 Montreal Games. However, the small elite team demonstrated their unique resilience, continuously winning medals throughout the competition. Maintaining a steep upward trajectory, they exceeded their goals early on.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The first medal winners were shooters Park Ha-jun (KT) and Geum Ji-hyun (Gyeonggi Provincial Office), who won silver in the 10m air rifle mixed event on the day after the opening ceremony, August 27. The next day, fencer Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan City Hall) won the men's sabre individual event, securing the first gold medal for the Korean team. Shooters Oh Ye-jin (IBK Industrial Bank) and Kim Ye-jin (Imsil County Office) also swept gold and silver in the women's 10m air pistol event on the same day.

Of the thirteen gold medals, five came from archery. Kim Woo-jin (Cheongju City Hall), Lim Si-hyun (Korea National Sport University), Kim Je-deok (Yecheon County Office), Jeon Hun-young (Incheon Metropolitan City Hall), Lee Woo-seok (Kolon), and Nam Soo-hyun (Suncheon City Hall) swept the men's and women's team events, mixed team events, and individual events. Notably, Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyun each won three gold medals. Oh Sang-wook also achieved two gold medals by winning the men's sabre team event. Sixteen-year-old high school sharpshooter Ban Hyo-jin (Daegu Physical Education High School) won gold in the women's 10m air rifle and set two records: the 100th gold medal for the Korean Summer Olympic team and the youngest gold medalist in Summer Olympic history.

The upward trend in archery, shooting, and fencing continued into the latter half of the Games with badminton and taekwondo. Badminton player An Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance) won the women's singles title for the first time in 28 years, while taekwondo athletes Park Tae-jun (Kyung Hee University) and Kim Yoo-jin (Ulsan City Sports Council) showcased golden kicks.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the final day of the competition, August 11, the Korean team added one silver and one bronze medal. Weightlifter Park Hye-jung (Goyang City Hall) competed in the women's over 81kg category, lifting 131kg in the snatch, 168kg in the clean and jerk, for a total of 299kg, finishing second. Modern pentathlete Sung Seung-min (Korea National Sport University) became the first Asian athlete to reach the podium in the women's event.

South Korea's entry into the top 10 in the Summer Olympic medal rankings came for the first time in eight years since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, where they finished 8th with nine gold, three silver, and nine bronze medals. In the 2021 Tokyo Games, they had slipped to 16th place with six gold, four silver, and ten bronze medals.

The key to this rebound in just three years was the outstanding performances of young athletes in their late teens to early twenties, such as Ban Hyo-jin, Oh Ye-jin, Yang Ji-in, Park Tae-jun, and Kim Yoo-jin. In the Olympics, where experience is an asset, they achieved their best-ever results through passion and focus. Although judo did not secure gold, it earned two silver and three bronze medals, while swimming and boxing produced medalists for the first time in 12 years, raising hopes. This is seen as laying the foundation for a comeback in Korean elite sports, which had been cornered.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The United States topped the overall medal rankings. They won forty gold medals, the same number as China, but led by seventeen silver medals. This marked the fourth consecutive Summer Olympics where the U.S. maintained the top spot in the medal rankings, following the 2012 London, 2016 Rio de Janeiro, and 2021 Tokyo Games. Japan ranked third with twenty gold medals, successfully climbing the ranks late in the competition by sweeping eight gold medals in wrestling alone.