'Record 13 Gold Medals'... South Korea's Beyond Expectations Performance at the Paris Olympics [Paris Olympics]

A Total of 32 Medals Won... Most Since 33 at the Seoul Olympics
Gold Medals in 5 Events Including 'Archery 5, Shooting 3'

South Korea concluded the 2024 Paris Olympics by winning the most gold medals in its Olympic history.

On the closing day of the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 11th (local time), Park Hye-jung won a silver medal in the women's over 81kg weightlifting event, and Seong Seung-min earned a bronze medal in the modern pentathlon women's category. With this, South Korea finished the Games with a total of 13 gold, 9 silver, and 10 bronze medals. The 13 gold medals tied the record for the most golds won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. The total of 32 medals was the highest since the 33 medals won at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

On the 11th (local time), Park Hye-jung smiles while holding up the silver medal she won in the women's over 81kg weightlifting category at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at South Paris Arena in Paris, France.
Photo by Yonhap News

In terms of gold medals, South Korea ranked 8th overall, climbing back into the top 10 for the first time in eight years after falling outside the top 10 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (16th place).

The South Korean delegation consisted of 144 athletes competing in 21 sports, the smallest team since the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Due to the smaller team size, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee set a modest target of 5 gold medals, the lowest since the 1976 Montreal Olympics (1 gold). However, the athletes' outstanding determination led to winning more than double the target number of gold medals.

Gold medals were won in five sports. Archery dominated by sweeping all five events, bringing home the most gold medals. Other gold medals came from shooting (3), taekwondo and fencing (2 each), and badminton (1).

In the early stages of the Games, archery, shooting, and fencing led the medal race. On the day after the opening, July 27, Park Ha-jun and Geum Ji-hyun won a silver medal in the mixed 10m air rifle shooting event, delivering the first medal for the Korean team. Following that, Kim Woo-min won a bronze medal in the men's 400m freestyle swimming event, marking the first swimming medal in 12 years since Park Tae-hwan won two silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

The first gold medalist was Oh Sang-wook in fencing sabre. On the first day of the Games, Oh won gold in the individual sabre event, achieving a grand slam by winning gold medals at the World Championships, Asian Championships, Asian Games, and the Olympics.

Archers Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyun each won three gold medals, leading to a clean sweep of all archery events for the second time since the 2012 London Olympics. Kim Woo-jin became South Korea's all-time Olympic gold medalist with a total of five gold medals. In shooting, South Korea won its 100th gold medal in Summer Olympic history.

Sixteen-year-old high school sharpshooter Ban Hyo-jin won gold in the 10m air rifle event on July 29, marking the 100th gold medal for the Korean Summer Olympic team. Ban also earned the honor of being the youngest gold medalist in the history of the Summer Olympics.

In the latter half of the Games, An Se-young won the women's singles badminton title, the first since Bang Soo-hyun at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and taekwondo strengthened the medal race towards the end. Taekwondo, which won only one silver and one bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and failed to win gold for the first time since becoming an official sport at the 2020 Sydney Olympics, restored its pride by winning two golds and one bronze this time as the sport's country of origin.

On the 11th (local time), the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics is taking place at Stade de France in Paris, France.
Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

In the overall medal rankings, the United States topped the list for the fourth consecutive time.

The U.S. clinched its 40th gold medal of the Games by narrowly defeating host nation France 67-66 in the women's basketball final, tying with China for the most gold medals. The U.S. led China in silver medals 44-27, securing first place in the overall standings.

Japan ranked third with 20 gold medals. Japan significantly improved its ranking by sweeping eight gold medals in wrestling during the final stages of the Games.