NAGOYA, October 9 — South Korea concluded its performance at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, with a gold medal count that marked its lowest tally since 1982, finishing third in the overall standings behind China and Japan. The result represented a significant shift from previous competitions, with South Korea securing third place for the third consecutive time. The gap between South Korea and Japan widened compared to previous Asian Games, with Japan taking home substantially more gold medals than its Korean counterpart.
This performance followed a pattern of narrowing margins in recent competitions, as stated in the source.
Disappointing Performance in Key Sports
South Korea underperformed in several traditional strongholds, as detailed in the source. The country’s swimming team captured only a single gold medal, a considerable drop from the six won four years prior. Archery yielded just three gold medals, marking the lowest total since compound archery debuted in 2014 and ending a streak of women’s archery gold medals that dated back to 1978.
Shooting and taekwondo also fell short of expectations, with the latter producing only one gold from the kyorugi/sparring discipline. Notably, South Korea failed to secure gold in table tennis and wrestling, as reported in the source.
The country’s judo performance suffered despite Japan’s decision to send its top judokas to overlapping World Championships instead of the Asian Games, as mentioned in the source. In this context, South Korea managed only one judo gold, claimed by Huh Mimi, as per the source. These disappointing results contrasted with South Korea’s success in team sports, where the nation swept both men’s and women’s basketball gold for the first time in twelve years and added the men’s 3×3 title, as stated in the source.
Baseball, men’s football, and women’s handball also contributed to South Korea’s medal count, while fencing maintained its recent strength with four gold medals, as reported in the source.
Looking Ahead to 2028 Olympics
Ryu Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, addressed the results after the closing ceremony on October 5, 2026, as per the source. According to his statement, the Games revealed South Korea’s current standing ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Ryu noted rising competition from Central and Southeast Asian nations and pledged a comprehensive analysis of training systems and sports science to improve future performance, as reported in the source.
The committee’s assessment will likely focus on addressing the shortcomings identified in Nagoya while building on the successes in team sports, as suggested by the source. The Asian Games results come as South Korea prepares to compete on the global stage once again, with the Los Angeles Olympics representing another opportunity to reassess and rebuild its athletic programs, as implied in the source.
The nation’s sports authorities now face the challenge of developing strategies to reverse the declining performance trend while maintaining strengths in sports where South Korea continues to excel, as suggested by the source.
