Korea sends full women's gymnastics team to Olympics, led by Yeo Seo-jeong

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Korea sends full women's gymnastics team to Olympics, led by Yeo Seo-jeong

Published: 25 Jul. 2024, 14:20

Yeo Seo-jeong performs in the women's vault final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at Ariake Gymnastics Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on August 1, 2021. [NEWS1]

Eight Korean gymnasts qualified for the Paris Olympics, including a full women’s team — three years after Yeo Seo-jeong became the first Korean woman to medal in artistic gymnastics at the Games.

Ryu Sung-hyun, Lee Jun-ho and Hur Woong will represent Korea in the men’s events while Yeo, Eom Do-hyun, Lee Da-yeong, Lee Yun-seo and Shin Sol-yi will represent Korea among the women.

Twelve countries earn a spot in the men’s and women’s team competitions, each team composed of five athletes. Individual athletes can also qualify for the Olympics based on their world rankings if they do not make the Games through their team.

The Korean women’s team earned an Olympic berth after advancing to the all-around finals at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Antwerp, Germany.

The Korean women's gymnastics team trains at the Le Bourget International Broadcasting Center in Paris on Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

It was a milestone for Korea, which hasn’t traditionally been strong in gymnastics on the international stage. Ten of Korea’s 11 Olympic medals were won by men.

The Korean gymnastics squad will be in Paris without veteran gymnast Kim Han-sol, who was replaced by Hur after he tore his left knee during practice weeks before the opening ceremony.

Hur, a first-time Olympian, specializes in pommel horse. Ryu was part of the men’s team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fourth in floor exercise, as was Lee Jun-ho, the oldest member of the Korean gymnastics team at 28 years old.

Yeo, the daughter of three-time Olympic gymnast Yeo Hong-chul, is one of two returning gymnasts on the women’s team.

Yeo Seo-jung, a member of the Korean women's gymnastics team, hugs her father, Yeo Hong-chul, the executive director of the Korea Gymnastics Association, before departing at Incheon International Airport in Incheon on July 17. [YONHAP]

She’ll look to one-up her finish in Tokyo, bronze in vault — the same event that landed her father a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Lee Yun-seo was also in Tokyo and finished 21st in the women’s all-around discipline.

Lee Da-yeong, Eom and Shin are all first-time Olympians.

Ryu Sung-hyun competes in the men's individual floor exercise at the Ariake Gymnastics Stadium in Tokyo, Japan on Aug. 1, 2021. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The individual events for men are pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor exercise.

Women compete in vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

Korea has 11 medals in gymnastics at the Olympics. Shin Jea-hwan won Korea’s second-ever gold medal in gymnastics in Tokyo as the men’s vault champion after Yang Hak-seon did it first in 2012.

Gymnastics at the Olympics runs from July 27 to Aug. 5, beginning with men’s qualification rounds, followed by women’s qualification rounds the next day.

BY MARY YANG, KEVIN CHUNG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]