South Korea finished fourth in the women’s artistic gymnastics team final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on September 23, missing out on a medal as North Korea claimed bronze at the Nagoya Municipal Gymnasium Rainbow Hall.
Gymnastics Showdown at Nagoya Rainbow Hall
The women’s artistic gymnastics team final on September 23 brought together regional rivals South Korea and North Korea in the same competitive rotation at the Nagoya Municipal Gymnasium Rainbow Hall during the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. For South Korea, the event carried the weight of a 20-year drought. The nation last won a team medal at the 2006 Doha Games through a bronze delegation after North Korea’s Cha Young-hwa was disqualified for age falsification. This time, the squad composed of Yeo Seo-jeong (Jecheon City Hall), Lee Yoon-seo (Gyeongbuk Provincial Office), Shin Sol-i (Gangwon State Sports Council), Lim Su-min (Jecheon City Hall), and Hwang Seo-hyun (Incheon Physical Education High School) aimed to restore that podium presence. Earlier, the national team had set a goal of winning one gold medal each in the men’s and women’s divisions, aiming for a total of two, after concentrating on their tournament preparations by recently holding a mock competition rehearsal at the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province.
Instead, the four-rotation battle across uneven bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and vault favored the North Korean squad. North Korea compiled 158.329 points to secure the bronze medal, adding to their consecutive team podium following the 2022 Hangzhou Games. South Korea finished fourth with a total of 156.863 points, trailing the third-place finish by 1.466 points. China dominated the competition with 166.462 points for the gold medal, while host nation Japan captured silver with 165.362 points. On the same day, the men’s team final concluded with South Korea’s team of Ryu Seong-hyun, Kim Jae-ho, Lee Jeong-hyo, Heo Woong, and Seo Jeong-won finishing fifth in the six-apparatus final with 236.359 points.
Rotation-by-Rotation Battle and Vault Standout Yeo Seo-jeong
The deficit grew early as North Korea opened a 1.234-point lead during the uneven bars rotation, scoring 38.833 to South Korea’s 37.599. The gap widened on the balance beam where Hwang Seohyun delivered a steady 14.566, but North Korea’s 41.365 pushed the overall difference to 2.267 points. South Korea clawed back during the floor exercise behind a 13.100 from Yeo Seo-jeong and solid routines from Lim Su-min (13.033 points) and Shin Sol-i (12.700 points), narrowing the margin to 1.733 points before the final apparatus.
The concluding vault rotation featured a head-to-head matchup between Yeo Seo-jeong and North Korea’s An Chang-ok. Yeo, returning to the Asian Games stage for the first time since winning vault gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games, posted a 14.133 to claim overall first place on the apparatus ahead of An’s 13.900. Despite Yeo’s individual vault performance, the prior deficits proved too steep to erase. Yeo Seo-jeong is a bronze medalist in the vault at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 World Championships, having overcome a shoulder injury sustained at the Paris Olympics to top the podium at the Asian Championships in June of this year.
Silence in the Mixed Zone and Focus on Apparatus Finals
Despite competing side-by-side through all four rotations, athletes from both delegations maintained strict separation off the floor. When asked by reporters whether any words were exchanged during the rare inter-Korean matchup, team captain Yeo Seo-jeong confirmed that no conversation took place, stating, “We did not speak at all.”
Lee Yoon-seo, South Korean gymnast, stated that even though they might have wanted to speak, they were cautious with each other because such interactions could easily become an issue.
North Korean gymnast Han Yon-mi also avoided direct remarks about her South Korean competitors when approached in the mixed zone, stating only that she felt no nervousness and focused entirely on executing her routines with the remark, that she did not feel nervous and believed she needed to perform even better. An Chang-ok and Park Eun-jung were unavailable in the mixed zone following the event due to mandatory doping tests. With the team competition concluded, South Korean gymnasts turn their attention to individual apparatus finals starting September 24. Reflecting on the team effort, Yeo Seo-jeong remarked, that she was nonetheless satisfied with today’s result because everyone seemed to have worked hard together without any regrets.