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South Korea's Olympic taekwondo team poses for a photo at Incheon International Airport on July 25, before departing to compete in the Paris Olympics. From left are: Seo Geon-woo, Lee Da-bin, Park Tae-joon and Kim Yu-jin. (Yonhap) |
With Kim Yu-jin's stunning win in the women's 57-kilogram taekwondo event Thursday, South Korea has now won two taekwondo gold medals and 13 golds across all events at the Paris Olympics.
The country has already matched its own record for the most gold medals it has won at an Olympics -- set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and matched at the 2012 London Olympics -- and is now shooting to beat it. South Korea also has a shot at matching its record of the most medals it has won overall -- 33 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics -- although it would have to beat some tough odds to win five more medals.
South Korea's taekwondo practitioners may not be done garnering Olympic medals in the sport, as Seo Geon-woo and Lee Da-bin are still competing for their place. Seo is set to compete in the round of 16 of the men's -80-kilogram event on Friday, and Lee will compete in the same round of the women's +67-kilogram event Saturday.
The two athletes have a legitimate chance to contend for gold medals, with both of them being ranked No. 4 in their respective weight classes. Paris marks Seo's first participating in an Olympics, though Lee won the country's only silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Historically, South Korea has been by far the most dominant country in taekwondo in terms of Olympic success, winning 14 gold medals and 24 medals overall since the sport was first introduced in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
But taekwondo is not the only remaining sport where South Korea could prevail. The remaining athletes in other sports face tough competition and are not necessarily considered favorites to win the gold, but many are still included in the medal conversation.
Weightlifting is a sport where the South Korean team has high hopes for a medal. Park Hye-jeong in the women's +81-kilogram class will challenge defending champion Li Wenwon of China, who is considered an overwhelming favorite.
Li currently has the women's world record holder in snatch, clean and jerk and combined, and her combined record of 335 kilograms far surpasses the 296 kilograms lifted by Park, but the 21-year-old Korean national does have a clear advantage over other participants. If Park does win a medal, she will become the first Korean woman to win a medal in the super heavyweight class since Jang Mi-ran won a silver in 2012.
Kim Su-hyun, who is in the same class as Park, Yu Dong-ju in the men's 89-kilogram class, and Jang Yeon-hak of the men's +102-kilogram class will also compete for weightlifting medals at this Olympics. Park Ju-hyo finished seventh in the men's 73-kilogram class, coming up short of a medal on Thursday.
High jumper Woo Sang-hyeok has high expectations to win the country's first-ever medal in the event. Woo landed in the finals after tying for third place in the qualification round, and will compete with the top 12 jumpers in the finals scheduled for Saturday.
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South Korea's Woo Ha-ram cheers after a successful jump over 2.27 meters during the qualification round for the men's high jump at the Paris Olympics at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, on Wednesday. (Yonhap) |
Sports climber Seo Chae-hyun squeezed into the final of the women's combined event. She finished eighth overall as the last berth in Saturday's final.
Jun Woong-tae, a reigning bronze medalist in the men's modern pentathlon, ranked fourth in its fencing event Thursday and will seek to win another medal. He had finished ninth in the fencing round at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when he became the first South Korean national to win a medal in the multidiscipline competition.
Seong Seung-min and Kim Sun-woo are competing in the women's modern pentathlon to bring home the first medal in the women's event.
