Gov't vows Korean sports revamp as smallest squad since 1976 prepares for Paris

Olympic Sports

Published: 02 Jul. 2024, 16:49 Updated: 02 Jul. 2024, 17:38

Gov't vows Korean sports revamp as smallest squad since 1976 prepares for Paris

Culture Minister Yu In-chon, right, speaks during a press conference at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in central Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Culture Minister Yu In-chon is keen to bring back the glory days of Korean sports — but not until after the Paris Olympics where Korea will be represented by the smallest team to qualify for a Games since Montreal 1976.

“Korea won 13 gold, 10 silver and eight bronze medals at the Beijing Olympics [in 2008] and ended in eighth place overall, which I think were our glory days,” Yu said in a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism press conference on Tuesday. “I think we maintained our competitiveness also at the 2012 London Olympics, where we won 13 gold, nine silver and nine bronze.”

In the press conference at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in central Seoul, Culture Minister Yu was joined by Second Vice Culture Minister Jang Mi-ran, Culture Ministry Director General for Sports Lee Jung-woo and Culture Ministry Director General for Sports Cooperation Song Yoon-seog.

The four discussed the ministry’s plans to assist athletes at the upcoming Paris Olympics that begins on July 26 and its longer-term plans to elevate the country’s sports level that has seen a decline in recent years.

As of Tuesday, Korea is set to send 142 athletes across 22 sports to the French capital this year.

The number of qualified athletes is significantly smaller than recent summer Olympics — Korea sent 237 athletes to the 2020 Tokyo Games and 204 to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Korea's failure to qualify for any team sports except women's handball in Paris accounts for the majority of the missing athletes.

“It’s been 15 years [since the Beijing Olympics], and the Paris Olympics will see about 140 Korean athletes, so this is the smallest group since the 1976 Montreal Olympics unfortunately, but I still have high hopes,” Yu said. “I just feel sorry that the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) that is in charge expects poor results [at the Olympics].

“Our Olympic squad has never had fewer than 200 athletes since the 1980 Moscow or 1984 LA Olympics, so I think a lot changed in a short time.”

Yu also shared the ministry’s efforts to improve Korean sports.

“Since I was inaugurated last year, starting with a meeting with sports club officials on Nov. 22, 2023 through June 20 this year, I’ve had about 11 meetings with sports personnel, and I diligently listened to the opinions of those on the field,” Yu said. “Including meetings that Vice Minister Jang and the director general for sports had, we’ve put a significant amount of time and effort in, in order to improve the KSOC.”

Yu said that he held a meeting with Korean volleyball legend Kim Yeon-koung to find a solution for Korea’s plummeting sports competitiveness.

Volleyball is one of the sports that has seen a decline in performance since the 2020 Olympics, where the women’s team reached the semifinals. The women's team failed to get close to qualifying for this year’s Games, while the men’s team failed to reach the tournament for a sixth straight Olympics.

In terms of developing sports from the ground up, Yu said that he thinks he needs to implement initiatives tailored by region to allow people in those regions to play the sports they want.

He did not reveal specific plans, but said that his plans require cooperation from the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

While only the women’s handball team has a chance to medal in team sports for Korea this year, the country is still a strong contender in sports like archery, shooting and judo.

Swimming has not been Korea’s best sport at the Olympics, with Park Tae-hwan remaining the only swimmer to have medaled, but this year Korea has Hwang Sun-woo, who has won a gold medal at every major tournament but the Olympics.

Director General for Sports Cooperation Song is confident that the Culture Ministry’s support for the athletes will help them deliver their best.

The ministry will use the French National Defense Sports Center located about 80 kilometers (49 miles) from the Paris Olympic village from July 12 as a training camp where athletes can train alongside 95 assistants provided by the ministry to compete against them in sports like badminton, tennis and boxing.

The ministry will also provide 100 fans, 150 cooling sheets and 200 cooling jackets to help athletes maintain their performance without being affected by the potential heat at the Olympic Village, which has no air conditioning despite expectations of a sweltering Parisian summer.

The Paris Olympics will run from July 26 through Aug. 11, with around 10,500 competitors set to participate across 32 sports.

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]