Korea set to grab 9 golds in Tokyo says analysis firm

Korea will grab nine gold medals to finish in the top 10 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, a U.S. sports data analysis firm has projected.

The latest version of Virtual Medal Table by Gracenote, updated last Friday, also predicted Korea will get 11 silver and six bronze medals.

Those nine gold medals would put Korea in 10th place for a fifth consecutive top-10 finish at the Summer Olympics, a run that started at Athens 2004.

By sport, Gracenote said Korea will win gold medals in archery, taekwondo, football, golf and fencing.

The men’s football team, which earned its Tokyo spot after winning the Asian qualifying tournament last weekend, is projected to topple Ecuador and Venezuela for the gold medal. That would be Korea’s first Olympic title in men’s football, though Gracenote failed to take into account Ecuador and Venezuela’s respective elimination from their regional qualifiers.

Gracenote predicted a second-straight Korean gold medal in women’s golf, with current No. 1 Ko Jin-young to follow in the footsteps of the 2016 champion Park In-bee.

Female archer Kang Chae-young was projected as a triple gold medalist in the individual, team and mixed events, while male sabre fencer Oh Sang-uk was tapped for two gold medals in the individual and team events.

In taekwondo, Gracenote predicted two gold medals - by Lee Dae-hoon in 68 kilograms (150 pounds, featherweight) and Jang Jun in 58 kilograms (flyweight).

Yonhap