2024-07-25 11:32:14
Women’s archery team event on the 28th, challenging for 10 consecutive Olympic gold medals
Early August Badminton… Medal hopefuls in addition to An Se-young
Modern Pentathlon to be held just before the closing ceremony… Expectations for both men and women to win medals
The ‘2024 Paris Olympics’ is just one day away. The competition, which will open with a grand opening ceremony at 3:00 AM on the 27th (Korean time), will feature 143 South Korean national representatives.
It is true that the Paris Games this year are the smallest since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and that the excitement has somewhat waned as popular team sports such as soccer and baseball are not included. Nevertheless, there are games that are absolutely not to be missed and will give you a cool victory in this hot summer.
First of all, the sport with the highest probability of winning a medal is archery.
The Korean archery team will enter the Olympic competition a little earlier than others with the women’s individual ranking round at 9:30 AM on the 25th.
Women’s archery, led by world number 2 Im Si-hyeon, is challenging for its 10th consecutive win in the team event.
Lim Si-hyeon, who won three gold medals in the women’s team, individual, and mixed team events at the Hangzhou Asian Games last September, will compete in the women’s team event on the 28th and then go on to hunt for a medal in the individual event on the 3rd of next month.
In the men’s division, Woojin Kim is aiming for his third consecutive gold medal, following the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Games. The men’s archery team event, in which Woojin Kim will compete, will be held on the 29th, and the men’s individual finals will be held on the 4th of next month.
Then, with the official opening, races with a high chance of winning medals will be held.
On the opening day, the 27th, the men’s swimming 400m freestyle Kim Woo-min and the men’s fencing sabre individual event are scheduled.
Woomin Kim, who won three gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games held in September last year, is continuing his upward trend by winning a gold medal at the World Championships held in Doha, Qatar earlier this year.
Attention is being paid to whether Kim Woo-min can make a good start for Korean swimming, as he will compete in the men’s 200m freestyle with Hwang Sun-woo on the 29th, two days later, and in the men’s 800m relay on the 30th.
The men’s sabre ‘Appengers’ will compete in the individual event on the 27th, and then join forces on the 31st to challenge for a third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the team event.
The men’s sabre team, which boasted a near-invincible performance in team events, has shown a particularly weak performance in individual Olympic events.
However, Koo Bon-gil, who is already participating in his fourth Olympics, has shown his desire to compete in the individual event as well as the team event. Veteran Koo Bon-gil and world number 4 Oh Sang-wook are expected to perform well.
The women’s epee team event, ranked 2nd in the world and with a strong chance of winning the gold medal, is also scheduled to be held on the 30th.
One of the most notable sports at this year’s Paris Games is undoubtedly badminton.
The mixed doubles competition will begin on the 2nd of next month, followed by the women’s doubles competition on the 3rd, the men’s doubles competition on the 4th, and the medal matches for the women’s singles and men’s singles on the 5th.
Korean badminton is home to many players who boast world-class skills, including world No. 1 Ahn Se-young, women’s doubles Baek Ha-na and Lee So-hee (2nd), Kim So-young and Kong Hee-yong (8th), men’s doubles Kang Min-hyeok and Seo Seung-jae (5th), and mixed doubles Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jeong (3rd), Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun (8th).
Barring any major changes, there is a good chance that we will see a medalist in badminton every day in early August.
We cannot miss out on the wrestling events, which are a traditional medal hotbed for the Korean national team.
Both Judo and Taekwondo, which suffered a blow to their pride by failing to win gold in Tokyo three years ago, will challenge to restore their honor in Paris.
First, Korean judo will go on a medal hunt led by An Ba-ul (July 28) in the men’s under-66kg class, Heo Mimi (July 29) in the women’s under-57kg class, and Kim Min-jong (August 2) in the men’s over-100kg class.
In Taekwondo, you should pay attention to rookie Park Tae-jun and veteran Lee Da-bin.
Park Tae-jun, who won gold medals in the World Championships and Asian Championships in a row to secure a ticket to Paris, will compete in his first Olympics on the 7th of next month and aim for the top spot on the podium.
Da-Bin Lee, who won the Asian Games, Asian Championships, and World Championships, unfortunately ended up with a silver medal at the last Tokyo Games, leaving her with just one puzzle piece left in the Grand Slam.
Dabin Lee plans to complete this puzzle by adding an Olympic gold medal on August 10th.
Even until the very end of the competition, there are still events where medals are expected to be won.
On August 10th, the day before the closing ceremony, Woo Sang-hyuk, the pride of Korean track and field, will go hunting for a medal in the high jump. Woo Sang-hyuk, who narrowly missed out on a medal in Tokyo three years ago by finishing in fourth place, plans to give the nation even more adrenaline in Paris.
In the modern pentathlon that follows, world No. 2 Jeon Woong-tae and No. 8 Seo Chang-wan will engage in a friendly competition. Sports climber Seo Chae-hyun will also be looking for her first Olympic medal.
On the 11th, the closing day, the women’s modern pentathlon competition will be held. Sung Seung-min (world No. 1) and Kim Seon-woo (world No. 10) will challenge for a male and female medal.
[서울=뉴시스]
2024-07-25 11:32:14