Triple crown winners Kim Woo-min and Lim Si-hyeon

The 19th Hangzhou Asian Games concluded after a 16-day run on Sunday. Korea secured the 3rd position in the overall rankings, amassing 42 gold, 59 silver, and 89 bronze medals. Their last gold medal came the day before when the men’s national soccer team defeated their arch-rival Japan, marking their first three-game winning streak in the Asian Games history. Despite this achievement, Korea fell behind in the count of gold medals, relinquishing the second-place spot to Japan (52 gold, 67 silver, 69 bronze) for the second consecutive time, following the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. However, in total medals, Korea (190) outperformed Japan (188). This marked a significant improvement compared to the Asian Games five years ago, when Korea had 28 fewer medals than Japan. China, the host nation, secured the top position in the competition with 201 gold, 111 silver, and 71 bronze medals. China has claimed the championship title 11 times consecutively since the 1982 New Delhi Games.

While Korea didn’t quite reach the ambitious target of 50 gold medals set for this event, its performance has significantly boosted its prospects for the upcoming Paris Olympics. Notably, Korea clinched six gold medals in swimming, marking a historic achievement as it was the first time that Korean swimmers won more gold medals than Japan, which secured five. Additionally, the Korean fencing team’s success in winning six gold medals has generated high expectations for their performance in the Paris Olympics as well. Kim Woo-min in swimming and Lim Si-hyeon in archery earned the distinction of being selected as the Most Valuable Players (MVPs) for the Korean team in this tournament.

The upcoming competition, the 20th Asian Games, is scheduled to take place in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in September 2026.


강동웅 leper@donga.com