South Korea at the Winter Olympic Games
The Republic of Korea, also commonly called South Korea, made its debut at the Winter Games in St. Moritz, Switzerland in 1948 and has participated at the event from then on except in 1952. The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
South Korea suffered a medal drought from 1948 up to 1988. But as soon as the nation started winning medals at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics it dramatically became a sporting power in the quadrennial event.
The Far East Asian nation finished 10th in Albertville with a medal haul of 2 gold, silver and 1 bronze medals and placed in the top 10 with the most medals won in the succeeding Winter Games. The nation placed 6th in Lillehammer (1994), 9th in Nagano (1998), 7th in Turin (2006) and 5th in Vancouver (2010).
South Korea is the world’s most dominant nation in short track speed skating which is also its top source of medals. Short track speed skater Kim Ki-hoon earned the distinction as the first South Korean gold medalist at the Winter Olympics by placing first in the men’s 1,000-m event in the short track speed skating in 1992. Kim is a three-time Olympic Champion and 1992 Overall World Champion.
Other remarkable South Korean short track speed skaters include Chun Lee-kyung who won five medals (4 gold and 1 silver) and Jin Sun-yu who won three gold medals.
Trivia
- Sisters Hannah Brandt and Marissa Brandt will be competing in ice-hockey in PyeongChang 2018, one representing the USA and the other Korea.
Related Pages
- About Sport in South Korea
- South Korea at the Summer Olympics
- North Korea at the Winter Olympics
- About the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
- More Winter Olympics Countries
- Winter Olympics main page.
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