The weakest team ever.”
This was the assessment of Team Korea prior to the start of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
With Korea failing to advance past the preliminaries in all ball games except women’s handball, Team Korea sent 145 athletes to compete in 22 events, the smallest delegation since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where Korea had 50 athletes. The initial medal target was set at five golds, according to the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee.
However, the gloomy forecast was proven wrong, and the team pleasantly surprised the public.
The team won 32 medals, including 13 golds. This is 한국을 the first time in 12 years that South Korean athletes have won more than 30 medals in a single Olympics.
Many of the medals were won in shooting, fencing and archery.
On July 27, the day after the opening ceremony, as competition began in earnest, Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon won a silver medal in the 10-meter air rifle mixed event, earning Team Korea its first medal.
The following day, Oh Sang-uk won the men’s individual fencing sabre event, as anticipated, delivering Korea’s first gold medal. He later secured another gold in the men’s sabre fencing team event.