At every Olympics, new stars will emerge, while others will fade away. South Korea saw fresh faces step up as heroes at the Rio de Janeiro Games, but former Olympic champions failed to deliver on their promise of medals.  (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Epee fencer Park Sang-young came out of nowhere to win the men's individual gold. In a memorable final against Geza Imre of Hungary, Park overcame a 14-10 deficit -- one point from defeat -- with under three minutes remaining, scoring five unansw

Olympic GamesAug. 22, 2016

The chief organizer of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics on Sunday singled out the "low-cost, high-efficiency" opening ceremony as the most impressive moment of the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. construction for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics (Yonhap)Lee Hee-beom, who heads PyeongChang's organizing committee, has been in Rio to promote the first Winter Games in South Korea. The Rio Olympics will draw to a conclusion with a closing ceremony later Sunday."The time has now come for the Pyeo

Olympic GamesAug. 22, 2016

South Koreans Son Myeong-jun and Shim Jung-sub finished well out of medal contention in the men's marathon at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Sunday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Son came in 131st among 140 runners, finishing the race at 2:36:21, nearly 24 minutes slower than his personal best.Shim was 138th at 2:42:42, almost 30 minutes behind his personal record.Fifteen runners didn't finish the race.Eluid Kipchoge of Kenya won the gold medal at 2:08:44, followed by Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia

Olympic GamesAug. 22, 2016

South Korean rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae finished fourth in the individual all-around final at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Saturday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Son ended just shy of the country's first rhythmic gymnastics medal for the second consecutive Olympics. She scored 72.898 points from her hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon programs, while Ganna Rizatdinova of Ukraine took the bronze with 73.583 points.She finished fifth at the 2012 London Olympics.In Rio, Son was third among 10 fina

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

Many athletes before him have accepted bronze medals begrudgingly, clearly not content to finish third when what they wanted was gold, but South Korean taekwondo fighter Cha Dong-min said Saturday he was grateful for his bronze.Having already won an Olympic gold eight years ago perhaps makes it easier for Cha to live with bronze. However, it's actually not the success from the past, but a failure that makes him enjoy his prize more, regardless of its color. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)By bea

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

After closing out her first Olympic golf tournament on a disappointing note in Rio de Janeiro, South Korean Kim Sei-young said Saturday she has learned from her mistakes. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Namely, she perhaps wanted to win here so much that it actually proved detrimental to her game."I think I became too obsessed with results while I was preparing for the Olympics," Kim said after shooting an even-par 71 at Olympic Golf Course, for the four-day total of one-under 283.She ended in a

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

It was only last month that South Korean LPGA star Park In-bee decided to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, despite nagging left thumb issues that had given her reservations for weeks.Golfer Park In-bee (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Turn the clock to Saturday, and Park is surely glad she made the call.The world No. 5 was crowned the first Olympic women's golf champion in 116 years, with a comfortable five-shot victory over the world No. 1 Lydia Ko.Park shot a five-under 66 in the final r

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

South Korean Park In-bee cruised to the women's golf gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Saturday.(Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Park shot five-under 66 in the final round at the par-71, 6,245-yard Olympic Golf Course, for a four-day total of 16-under 268. She beat Lydia Ko of New Zealand by five strokes for the first women's golf Olympic title awarded in 116 years.Feng Shanshan of China finished third at 10-under.Park started the day at 11-under, two shots over Ko and Gerina Piller of

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

A highly-anticipated duel for the women's Olympic gold medal fizzled before it began on Saturday. (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)South Korean Park In-bee, world No. 5, opened the final round at 11-under, holding a two-stroke lead over the top-ranked Kiwi, Lydia Ko. Though American Gerina Piller was also at nine-under, the final round was largely expected to be the battle between the two stars who've been battling for LPGA supremacy in recent years.It didn't turn out to be much of a battle, as P

Olympic GamesAug. 21, 2016

South Korea's Oh Hye-ri captured gold medal in women's -67kg taekwondo at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Friday.Oh defeated Haby Niare of France 13-12 in a spectacular, action-packed final for her first Olympic title.South Korea has never missed the podium in the women's -67kg since taekwondo became a medal sport in 2000: four golds and one bronze.Oh, the 2015 world champion in the -73kg, was making her Olympic debut.Oh Hye-ri after realizing her victory on Friday.  (Yonhap)Oh's was South Korea'

SportsAug. 20, 2016

South Korean badminton player Lee Yong-dae has hinted at his retirement from the international stage following his exit in men's doubles competition at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games. Lee and his doubles partner Yoo Yeon-seong were eliminated in the quarterfinals at the 31st Summer Games. The world No. 1-ranked tandem suffered a stunning loss to Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong of Malaysia.  (Yonhap)Lee said on Thursday he decided to retire from the national team in order to give more international

Olympic GamesAug. 19, 2016

South Korea's Lee Dae-hoon won a bronze medal in men's taekwondo at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday.Lee defeated Jaouad Achab of Belgium 11-7 in the men's -68kg bronze medal match at Carioca Arena 3.Earlier in the day, Lee lost in the quarterfinals to Ahmad Abughaush of Jordan 11-8. The South Korean moved into the repechage stage when Abughaush reached the final. (Yonhap)Lee, who won the 2012 silver in the -58kg, needed to win two matches to claim one of the two bronze medals at stake. H

Olympic GamesAug. 19, 2016

After guiding Japan to its first Olympic badminton gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the team's South Korean-born coach, Park Joo-bong, said Thursday it's "only the beginning."Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi captured the women's doubles gold medal Thursday, defeating Christinna Pedersen and Kamilla Rytter Juhl of Denmark 2-1 (18-21, 21-9, 21-19). (Yonhap)In the decisive third game, the No. 1-ranked team from Japan rallied from a 19-16 deficit to clinch the country's first Olympic b

Olympic GamesAug. 19, 2016