Top sports body upholds ban on figure skater over sexual harassment charges

The top South Korean sports body on Friday upheld an earlier ban on a female figure skater over allegations she had sexually harassed an underage male teammate, rejecting her claims that she couldn't have harassed him because they were in a romantic relationship. The Fair Play Commission at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee confirmed the three-year ban issued by the Korea Skating Union in June on Lee Hae-in, the women's singles silver medalist at the 2023 world championships. Th

Aug. 30, 2024

Paris Paralympic Games begin with 1st outdoor opening ceremony; S. Korea eyes return to top 20

The 17th Summer Paralympic Games began with the first outdoor opening ceremony in the competition's history in Paris on Wednesday night, as the French capital welcomed athletes with disabilities under the motto, "Games Wide Open." Paris had also held the opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics outside a stadium for the first time, with athletes riding boats down the iconic Seine River. On Thursday, Paralympians marched down the famous Champs-Elysee and toward Place de la Concorde

Aug. 29, 2024

[Graphic News] Paris 2024 Paralympics in numbers

The Paris 2024 Paralympics will take place from Aug. 28 to Sept. 8, marking the 17th edition of the international sports event and the first time Paris will host the Summer Paralympics. It is also France’s second time hosting a Paralympics, the first being the Tignes-Albertville 1992 Winter Paralympics. This year, for the first time, the Paralympics and Olympics will share the same logo: a combination of the Olympic rings and Paralympic Agitos symbol. South Korea aims to secure at least

Aug. 28, 2024

Hyundai Motor celebrates Korean archers’ success at Paris Olympic

The Korea Archery Association and its decadeslong sponsor Hyundai Motor Group held a congratulatory banquet Tuesday to celebrate the Korean national archers’ unprecedented success -- winning all five available gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris earlier this summer. The Korean women’s archery team won its 10th consecutive gold while the men’s team won its third gold in a row. The mixed archery team took the back-to-back titles. Koreans also swept both men's and

Aug. 27, 2024

They went for the gold, They're now ads' golden ticket

This year's Olympics may be over, but star players continue to appear on TV -- through advertisements. Convenience store chain GS25 launched "Shin Yu-bin's Snack Time" on Wednesday in collaboration with the table tennis player. Shin's viral on-camera moments at the Paris Games famously showed her snacking. OB Beer, an official sponsor of the Paris Olympics, has selected fencing champion Oh Sang-uk, who won gold in both the individual and team saber events, to promote its

Aug. 21, 2024

Badminton champion An Se-young unavailable for natl. federation's meeting over controversy this week

The Olympic badminton champion An Se-young will not attend a meeting organized by the sport's national federation this week to discuss problems she had raised after winning her gold medal in Paris, officials said Tuesday. Multiple officials for the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) said An's camp had informed the organization that she wouldn't be able to show up for any meeting this week, although the BKA had proposed multiple dates for An to choose from. The BKA launched an inter

Aug. 20, 2024

Viral sharpshooter Kim Ye-ji lands Louis Vuitton campaign

Viral Korean sharpshooter Kim Ye-ji, who won a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics, is set to appear in a one-time magazine photo shoot wearing Louis Vuitton, her agency said Monday. While the shoot is a one-off, the agency, Plfil, said they plan to continue supporting Kim’s modeling career. Several companies in Korea, from startups to established brands, have expressed interest in making her their brand ambassador, they added. “Nearly 20 brands want to use her in advertisement

Aug. 20, 2024

Badminton star An Se-young urges for more flexibility in support practices

Olympic badminton champion An Se-young broke her long silence Friday, clarifying her recent criticism of the national badminton federation. The 22-year-old gold medalist sparked controversy when she lashed out at her national team and the Badminton Korea Association (BKA) for their poor handling of her knee injury, and for outdated and inefficient operations, among other things, soon after winning the women's singles event at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 5. But she had not commented further o

Aug. 16, 2024

[Graphic News] S. Korea ties gold medal record

South Korea concluded the 2024 Paris Olympics in eighth place, securing a total of 32 medals: 13 gold, 9 silver and 10 bronze. The final day saw the nation add a silver in women's weightlifting and a bronze in women's modern pentathlon. South Korea tied its record for most gold medals at a Summer Games, matching the 13 golds achieved in 2008 and 2012 despite sending its smallest delegation since 1976 with 144 athletes competing in 21 sports. The team's success was highlighted by

Aug. 13, 2024

South Korea deploys sniffer dog to screen for bedbugs after Paris Games

South Korea has deployed a bedbug sniffer dog at its main Incheon international airport in a bid to reduce the risk of the tiny insects entering the country when athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics. Leading the campaign is a two-year-old beagle named Ceco, who pest control company Cesco said is the first and so far only canine trained in the country to detect the odor of pheromones, the chemicals released by bedbugs. Ceco is capable of sweeping a standard hotel room in un

Aug. 12, 2024

Ministry begins probe into badminton body

  The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday it is kicking off an inspection of the Badminton Korea Association, following claims of irregularities made by Olympic gold medalist An Se-young. Immediately after she won the gold in the women's singles event in Paris, An suggested that the national team "did not take her injury seriously." Her comment sparked suspicion that she had been forced to play through an injury that had been ailing her since last year. She also al

Aug. 12, 2024

S. Korea earns 2 medals on final day, finishes 1 shy of record

PARIS(Yonhap) -- South Korea capped its better-than-expected run at the Paris Olympics with two more medals on the final day of the competition Sunday. Seong Seung-min grabbed bronze in the women's modern pentathlon and became the first Asian to reach the podium since the women's event was added to the Olympics in 2000. After equestrian show jumping, fencing, swimming and laser run, which combines running and laser pistol shooting, Seong finished in third place with 1,441 points, behin

Aug. 11, 2024

Park Hye-jeong wins silver in women's weightlifting

PARIS(Yonhap) -- Park Hye-jeong captured silver in the heaviest weight class in women's weightlifting Sunday for South Korea's final medal of the Paris Olympics. Park finished with the total of 299 kilograms, with 131kg in the snatch and 168kg in the clean and jerk in the women's +81kg event at South Paris Arena 6 in the French capital. Both the snatch mark and the total weight are new South Korean national records. Park, 21, became the first South Korean medalist in the women&#

Aug. 11, 2024

Archery triple gold medalists named S. Korean MVPs

PARIS (Yonhap) -- Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyeon, a pair of triple gold medalists in archery, were named the MVPs of the South Korean delegation to the Paris Olympics on Sunday. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) announced that Kim and Lim were voted as the country's top athletes at the 33rd Summer Games by South Korean media. The KSOC created the MVP awards for a multisport competition for the first time at the Hangzhou Asian Games last fall. Lim, who had also won three archery

Aug. 11, 2024

South Korea's Paris Olympics triumph: 13 golds secure historic success

South Korea's Olympic team, comprising 144 athletes across 21 events, achieved at least 13 gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics, placing seventh overall, with athletes in shooting, fencing and archery playing pivotal roles in the country's success. Despite sending its smallest delegation since 1976, South Korea marked the nation's first double-digit gold medal haul in a Summer Olympics since the 2012 London Games. South Korea's record-breaking achievement in gold medals was largely due to the

Aug. 11, 2024

Lee Da-bin wins bronze in women's taekwondo

Lee Da-bin grabbed a bronze medal in the women's heaviest weight class in taekwondo Saturday, giving South Korea its third medal in its traditional martial art at the Paris Olympics. Lee defeated Lorena Brandl of Germany 2-1 (4-2, 5-9, 13-2) in one of the two bronze medal contests in the women's +67-kilogram event at Grand Palais in the French capital. South Korea sent four taekwondo practitioners to Paris, and three of them came away with medals. Before Lee, Park Tae-joon won the men&

Aug. 11, 2024

S. Korea beats Germany for bronze in women's table tennis team event

  PARIS -- South Korea defeated Germany to claim the bronze medal in the women's table tennis team event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday. The trio of Shin Yu-bin, Jeon Ji-hee and Lee Eun-hye beat Shan Xiaona, Wan Yuan and Annett Kaufmann by 3-0 after taking one doubles and two singles matches at South Paris Arena 4 in the French capital. This was South Korea's second medal in the women's team event, which was added to the Olympics in 2008. South Korea won bronze that first year and went 1

Aug. 10, 2024

No medal for S. Korea as taekwondo athlete loses out on bronze; pentathletes move on

South Korea came within a win of collecting its third straight taekwondo medal on Friday, with Seo Geon-woo losing in the bronze medal match of the men's -80-kilogram event. No other South Korean athlete came close to contending for a medal on this day, as the competition heads into its final weekend. South Korea's gold medal tally remained at 13, tied for its record for the Summer Games. Earlier on Friday, Seo seemed to be on his way to delivering the record-breaking gold medal. But

Aug. 10, 2024

Retired weightlifter receives belated bronze medal in Paris ceremony

A dozen years after competing in what turned out to be his last Olympic Games, former South Korean weightlifter Jeon Sang-guen received his bronze medal in a ceremony in Paris on Friday. In a special ceremony by the Eiffel Tower on the sidelines of the 33rd Olympic Games, Jeon was belatedly presented with the bronze medal from the men's +105-kilogram event at the 2012 London Olympics. Jeon, now 43 and long retired from the sport, originally placed fourth with a total of 436kg. Ruslan Albego

Aug. 9, 2024

S. Korea ties own Olympic record of 13 gold medals, aims to beat it

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 1

Aug. 9, 2024