Unexpected Victory... Yuseongmin Elected as President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee

Defeating Incumbent Chairman Lee Kiheung by a Margin of 38 Votes

Former Korea Table Tennis Association President Yoo Seung-min defied all expectations and was elected as the 42nd President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee.

On the 14th, Yoo Seung-min won 417 votes (34.5%) out of a total of 1,209 votes in the election held at Olympic Hall, Olympic Park, Songpa-gu, Seoul, narrowly defeating Chairman Lee Ki-heung, who received 379 votes (31.3%), by a margin of 38 votes.

[Photo by Yonhap News]

Out of the total 2,244 eligible voters, 1,209 participated, resulting in a voter turnout of 43.9%. A total of six candidates ran in this election, including Yoo Seung-min and Chairman Lee Ki-heung, as well as Kang Tae-seon, President of the Seoul Sports Council (216 votes), Kang Shin-wook, Professor Emeritus at Dankook University (120 votes), Oh Joo-young, former President of the Korea Sepaktakraw Association (59 votes), and Kim Yong-joo, former Secretary General of the Gangwon Sports Council (15 votes).

The term of the Sports Committee President, often called the "President of Sports," is four years, lasting until February 2029. Yoo Seung-min is scheduled to officially take office next month after approval from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. During his term, major international events such as the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, and the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics are planned.

Yoo Seung-min won the gold medal in men's singles table tennis at the 2004 Athens Olympics and served as an International Olympic Committee (IOC) athlete representative from 2016 until the Paris Olympics held last summer. He also gained administrative experience as President of the Korea Table Tennis Association since 2019 and served as Chairman of the 2018 Pyeongchang Foundation, established to commemorate the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.