Korea leaves Beijing with 2 gold, 5 silver, 2 bronze medals

Choi Min-jeong celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's 1,500-meter final at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Feb. 16. [XINHUA/YONHAP]

After two weeks of non-stop winter sports, Team Korea leaves the 2022 Beijing Olympics with two gold, five silver and two bronze medals.

Those two gold medals mean Team Korea leaves China having fulfilled its primary objective — ahead of the Games, Korea's stated objective was to win "one or two" golds.

As expected, short track speed skating was Korea's strongest sport in Beijing, with both gold medals and three of the five silver medals coming from the sport.

Hwang Dae-heon won Korea's first gold medal in the men's 1,500 meters, with Choi Min-jeong adding that all-important second gold medal in the women's 1,500 meters.

Both Korean relay teams won silver in their respective events — Hwang was joined by Park Jang-hyuk, Kwak Yoon-gy and Lee June-seo in the men's 5,000 meters, with Choi joined by Kim A-lang, Seo Whi-min and Lee Yu-bin in the women's 3,000 meters. The final short track medal also went to Choi — a silver medal in the women's 1,000 meters.

Those short track medals put Korea at the top of the table in the sport, continuing the team's longstanding dominance in the sport. While Korea won one less gold medal than at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, it won two more silver medals.

All four of Korea's remaining medals came from speed skating. Kim Min-seok won Korea's first medal of the Beijing Games, bronze in the men's 500 meters, with Kim Min-seok adding a second bronze medal in the men's 1,500 meters. Chung Jae-won and Lee Seung-hoon then won Korea's final two medals of the Olympics, silver and bronze respectively in the men's mass start on Saturday.

Away from the ice rink, Korea was unable to repeat the unexpected success it saw at the PyeongChang Olympics in snowboarding, skeleton, bobsleigh and curling. At the 2018 Games, Korean athletes won the country's first ever medals in all of those events, with the home track advantage proving especially important in the sliding sports.

While that success might not have been repeated in Beijing, there are still plenty of signs that Korea's success in those sports is not gone for good.

Korea's Team Kim came within a few stones of reaching the semifinals in the women's curling event, falling down the table only after losing their final game of the round robin tournament. Considering that the gold and silver medals both went to teams that Korea had beaten in the round robin stage, Team Kim clearly had the potential to go much further.

While Yun Sung-bin, the 2018 skeleton gold medalist, was unable to repeat his previous success, the sudden arrival of Jung Seung-gi in the top 10 suggests that Korea still has a future in the fast-paced sliding sport.

The same can be said for figure skating, where both You Young and Kim Ye-lim finished in the top 10, the first time Korea has ever had two female figure skaters place so highly. In the men's event, Cha Jun-hwan, still only 20 years old, finished fifth in his second Olympics, Korea's best-ever finish.

The 2022 Beijing Olympics officially ended on Sunday night with the closing ceremony. After a two-week break, the excitement will start up all over again as the 2022 Winter Paralympic Games begin in Beijing on March 4.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]