LONDON -- South Korea had on Saturday everything a country could possibly have on a single day at an Olympic Games: a feel-good gold medal; a silver medal that almost never came; and a bronze medal that seemed as disappointing as an Olympic medal could be.Pistol shooter Jin Jong-oh captured South Korea‘s first gold medal in London in the men’s 10-meter air pistol event. It was also the country‘s first medal of any color at this year’s Olympics.Star swimmer Park Tae-hwan survived a ruling fiasco

Highlight photos of the London Olympic opening ceremony(London Olympic Joint Press Corps)

 LONDON (Yonhap) -- South Korean men's archery team took the bronze medal at the London Olympics Saturday, a day after setting a world record in the ranking round.From left: Im Dong-hyun, Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek (Yonhap News)   The South Koreans Im Dong-hyun, Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek beat the Mexican trio of Juan Rene Serrano, Luis Eduardo Velez and Luis Alvarez 224-219 in the bronze medal

Jin Jong-oh (Yonhap News)Pistol shooter Jin Jong-oh captured South Korea's first gold medal at the London Olympics Saturday, taking the men's 10-meter air pistol event.In the final held at Royal Artillery Barracks, Jin fired 100.2 points. Combined with his qualification score of 588, also tops in the field the 32-year-old took the gold with 688.2 points.Luca Tesconi of Italy won the silver, after

South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan (Tonhap News)Park Tae-hwan wiped away tears at the end of his long day. A day that nearly ended prematurely and instead concluded with a bittersweet silver medal.After getting reinstated from a temporary disqualification following morning heats, the South Korean had his Olympic 400-meter freestyle title taken away by Chinese rival Sun Yang.Park led throughout the

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- Swimmer Park Tae-hwan will enter the men's 400-meter freestyle race Saturday, the first of his three events at the London Olympics. He is the reigning Olympic gold medalist and a two-time world champion in 400 meter free.Park isn't the only South Korean medal hopeful on this day. Male archers will compete in the team event, and they've earned the bye to the quarters after s

LONDON (AFP) - A celebration of free healthcare, the trade union struggle, the battle for women's rights and a fleeting lesbian kiss: the Olympics opening ceremony Friday did not shy away from weighty social issues.Unsurprisingly, the show devised by Oscar-winning British director Danny Boyle drew accusations from the British political right that it had strayed into "leftie" issues.Aidan Burley, a

LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle said he had felt liberated rather than daunted by Beijing 2008's spectacular opening ceremony as his quirky but impressive show opened the London Games in style.In front of 80,000 spectators and VIPs, women in smocks and bonnets shepherded sheep, geese and cows on landscaped grass in the "Isles of Wonder" vision dreamed up by Boyle as the ceremony

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- South Korean archers were off to a rousing start at the London Olympics Friday, as both men and women secured high seed positions in the ranking rounds held hours before the opening ceremony.On a cloudy but calm day at the training range at Lord's Cricket Ground here in the host city of the 2012 Summer Games, Im Dong-hyun fired 699 to break his own 72-arrow record by three.

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- The 2012 London Summer Olympics kicked off here Friday with a lavish opening ceremony celebrating Britain's rich history and great figures, by turns dramatic, imaginative, humorous and solemn.With light rain falling early on at the Olympic Stadium, London began its third Summer Olympics with the ceremony titled "Isles of Wonder," as thousands of performers weaved the story

LONDON (Yonhap News) -- In the tranquil sport of archery, South Korean men sent a loud message to the rest of the competition at the Olympics Friday.If you want to win, you'll have to do better.Im Dong-hyun shot 699 in the men's ranking round at Lord's Cricket Ground, breaking his own 72-arrow world record by three points. Teammate Kim Bub-min also surpassed the old standards, firing 698. The thir

LONDON (Yonhap News) ― In the annals of the Summer Olympics, it could be argued that perhaps no country has dominated a single sport quite the way China has ruled table tennis.Granted, the sport only became a medal event at the 1988 Olympics, but China has swept up 20 gold medals, including all four up for grabs at the 2008 Beijing Games. South Korea, with three titles, and Sweden, with one, are the only other countries with Olympic table tennis gold.In the International Table Tennis Federation

NEWCASTLE, England (Yonhap News) ― Before South Korea opened the men’s soccer tournament at the London Olympics Thursday against Mexico, the patchwork defensive line was seen as the team’s Achilles’ heel. The head coach, Hong Myung-bo, acknowledged as much earlier this month.But following its scoreless draw against Mexico that started Group B action in Newcastle, South Korea appears to have an entirely different sort of problem at hand.The defense did yeoman’s work against the Latin Americans; b