South Korea marked the 100-day countdown to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics Wednesday with a pledge to put on another strong performance in the medal race.Sports officials and national team athletes who gathered at the National Training Center in northern Seoul for an open house event all expressed their desire to accomplish a common goal: finishing in the top 10 in medals for the fourth consecutive Olympics with at least 10 gold medals."I am certain that all the hard work put in by our

April 27, 2016

Seoul will mark the 100-day countdown to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics on Wednesday by illuminating its landmark tower in the Brazilian colors, the South American country's mission here said.The Brazilian Embassy said N Seoul Tower on Mount Namsan in central Seoul will be lit up in yellow and green from 6:30 p.m. to midnight.The embassy said landmark monuments in major cities around the world will also be illuminated in those Brazilian colors.This year's Olympics will be held on Aug. 5

April 27, 2016

South Korea will play every match at the 2016 Olympic men's football tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, like it is their final one, the team's head coach said Tuesday.At a press conference in Seoul marking the 100-day countdown to their first match in Rio, Shin Tae-yong said South Korea will seek to match the country's bronze medal-winning performance at the London Olympics four years ago. It was the country's first-ever medal in Olympic football."I will not say at this moment that we can col

April 26, 2016

Two-time Olympic speed skating champion Lee Sang-hwa was appointed honorary ambassador for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games on Monday.At a press conference in Seoul, Lee said she was honored to take the role in which she will promote South Korea's first Winter Olympic Games. "I will put my best effort forward to promote the PyeongChang Games as an ambassador and show a good performance as a skater," she said. Lee is the 16th honorary spokesperson for the Winter Games to be held in PyeongChang,

April 25, 2016

The Summer Olympic Games will take place in South America for the first time this year, as Rio de Janeiro in Brazil will host the 31st edition of the quadrennial competition.The countdown to the Aug. 5-21 Rio Games will reach 100 days Wednesday.The Olympic organizers expect to host 10,500 athletes from 206 countries. Over 17 days, they will take part in 42 sports, including two new additions, golf and rugby.Rio says 32 competition venues will be spread across four regions of the host city: Deodo

April 25, 2016

As the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro approaches, the head of the country's top training ground called for more public support for Olympic athletes.Choi Jong-sam, who oversees the National Training Center in Seoul, told Yonhap News Agency last week that the athletes gearing up for the Aug. 5-21 event will feed off the energy of enthusiastic fans."There's nothing better than the people's support and backing to boost morale for our athletes," Choi said. "If the country can rally around these

April 25, 2016

South Korea will aim to collect two wins and a draw to win their group at the 2016 Olympic men's football tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, head coach Shin Tae-yong said on Wednesday.The 16 qualified nations have been divided into four groups of four and the top two nations from each group will qualify for the knockout stage. South Korea are paired with Mexico, Fiji and Germany in Group C.If they reach the quarterfinals, South Korea will face a team from Group D where Argentina, Portugal, Al

April 20, 2016

Organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang said Tuesday they have launched a program to enhance accessibility in restaurants and hotels in host cities.The Games' organizing committee said in a statement it has released the "Accessibility Recognition Program," whereby the committee will look to increase the number of restaurants and accommodations easily accessible to pregnant, elderly or physically impaired individuals. The committee said it will encourage business owners and operator

April 19, 2016

Disgraced former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan will soon return to competition after nearly 18 months away, having recently served his doping suspension, his agency said Monday.Team GMP said Park will race at the 88th Dong-A Swimming Competition starting next Monday in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul. He has registered to compete in the men's 100m, 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle races.It will be Park's first competitive appearance since the National Sports Festival in Nove

April 18, 2016

We often measure success at the Olympics by the color of medals. As the men's hockey team goaltender Matt Dalton sees it, however, South Korea won't necessarily have to reach the podium on home ice in 2018 to call its Olympic hockey debut a success.Dalton, born in Canada, obtained his South Korean passport last month after getting fast-tracked to the citizenship. He's among a handful of North American-natives who have been naturalized as South Koreans, and they will represent their adopted count

April 18, 2016

Tickets to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony will cost 200,000 won ($174) to 1.5 million won.　The organizing committee for the games announced Monday ticket prices for the opening and closing ceremonies and individual games. Closing ceremony tickets are priced from 220,000 won to 950,000 won. The opening and closing ceremonies are the third and fifth, respectively, most anticipated events among Koreans, according to a survey of 1,741 Koreans on popularity of the upcoming

April 11, 2016

Former Olympic swimming gold medalist Park Tae-hwan was ruled out of this year's Rio Summer Games Wednesday following a decision by the nation's top sports body.The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) said it would not amend its rule preventing athletes who've served doping suspensions from representing the country for three years, starting on the day the suspension ends.Park recently served an 18-month suspension after testing positive for testosterone, and his ban ended on March 2.The KOC institute

April 6, 2016

South Korean Olympic football team head coach Shin Tae-yong said Thursday it is pointless to talk about the country having a second seed at the group draw.Japanese media have reported that South Korea are placed in the second-seeded pot with Nigeria, Honduras and Iraq for the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. According to reports, Japan have taken the top seeds along with host Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Sweden, Fiji, Portugal and South Africa are in the third-seeded pot, while Colombia,

March 31, 2016

South Korea's preparations for the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang are moving in the right direction, but a "lot of work" remains to be done, an official inspector said Wednesday.The International Olympic Committee in 2011 picked South Korea's northeastern ski resort of Pyeongchang to host the winter games, favouring it over Munich and the French Alpine town of Annecy. But initial preparations were hit by financial problems and construction delays, which at one point saw the IOC float the possi

March 16, 2016

South Korea missed out on Olympic women's football after a 1-0 loss to China in the Asian qualifying tournament on Monday.At Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, Wang Shanshan headed in the match's lone goal in the 42nd, as South Korea remained winless with two draws and two losses.Though there's one match remaining in the qualification, South Korea will not get one of two Asian spots for the women's football tournament at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in August. South Korea have never competed i

March 8, 2016

Co-presidents were named for the integrated national sports body on Monday, another important step toward finalizing their merger later this month.Kim Jung-haeng, president of the Korean Olympic Committee, and Kang Young-joong, head of the Korea Council of Sport for All, were appointed as co-heads of the tentatively named Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. The decision was reached during the KSOC founders' meeting in Seoul.The KOC, which oversees the country's sports in general and elite athletes

March 7, 2016

His lengthy doping suspension is now behind him, but South Korean Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan still faces a murky future, with no assurance that he will be eligible for this year's Summer Games.The 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m freestyle was slapped with an 18-month ban last March by FINA, the international swimming governing body. Park tested positive for testosterone, and the suspension began retroactively on Sept. 3, 2014, when FINA collected his samples.The ban ended Wed

March 3, 2016

The South Korean sports ministry plans to meet the International Olympic Committee next week with two leaders of local sports governing bodies at odds over their merger, a government official said Friday.An official at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Sports told Yonhap News Agency that the ministry is preparing to send its vice minister Kim Chong, along with the Korean Olympic Committee head Kim Jung-haeng and the Korea Council of Sport for All chief Kang Young-joong, to Lausanne, Switzerla

Feb. 26, 2016

South Korea will be without its two Olympic champions when it hosts speed skating's premier sprint competition this weekend.The International Skating Union (ISU) World Sprint Speed Skating Championships will be held Saturday and Sunday at Taereung International Skating Rink inside the National Training Center in Seoul.Skaters will each enter two 500 m races and two 1,000 m races across those two days. Their times will be converted to points using the samalog system, in which the points for the 5

Feb. 24, 2016