CELEBRATING SOUTH KOREA IN THE 2024 PARIS PARALYMPICS
Seo Su-Yeon (upper right) and Yoon Jiyu (upper left) on Aug. 30 face their Chinese counterparts in the final of the Paris Summer Paralympics' women's table tennis doubles WD5 at Arena 4 of South Paris Arena.
CELEBRATING SOUTH KOREA IN THE 2024 PARIS PARALYMPICS
By SHARON STERN
Last month we celebrated the talents of Korean athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics. This month we follow up with an equally amazing group of Korean athletes who participated in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. South Korea sent a total of 83 athletes – 46 men and 37 women – who competed in 17 different sports, to the Paralympics this year. By the Closing Ceremony, South Korea had won a total of 30 medals (6 gold, 10 silver, 14 bronze), ranking 22nd overall. They won medals in Para Shooting, Boccia, Para Table Tennis, Para Badminton, Wheelchair Fencing and Para Taekwondo.
The highest number of medals was won in the sport of Para Table Tennis: two gold, three silver and nine bronze.Kim Young-gun - 김영건 and Kim Gi-tae - 김기태 won gold medals in the men's singles. Kim Young-gun’s medal was South Korea’s sixth gold medal at the games.
Half of South Korea’s gold medals came from shooting sports. Park Jin-ho - 박진호 was the country's only double gold medalist, winning gold in the men's 10-meter air rifle standing and 50m rifle events. Jo Jeong-du 조정두 got the other shooting gold in the men's 10m air pistol.
Jeong Ho-won - 정호원 won gold in men’s individual boccia. Boccia is only competed in the Paralympics, so it may not be a sport you are familiar with. It is similar to Italian bocce ball or French pétanque. You can read more about it here.
Team South Korea had a target of winning 5 gold medals. They exceeded that by winning 6. In the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics, South Korea brought home only two gold medals.
Congratulations, Team South Korea!
