Overview
Koreans have always enjoyed a variety of sporting activities and games. The impressive national economic growth in recent years has given people increased leisure to indulge their passion in sports. On a national level, the most noteworthy accomplishments include the successful hosting of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and co-hosting of the 2002 FIFA World Cup with Japan. Daegu has been selected as the host city f...
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The 24th Seoul Olympics
The 24th Summer Olympic Games were successfully concluded after a 16-day run in Seoul, from September 17 to October 2, 1988, under the theme: Peace, Harmony and Progress. In what was the largest-ever Olympiad up to that time, more than 13,000 athletes and officials from 160 countries gathered to promote the lofty ideals of harmony and peace, while transcending the barriers separating East and West, and North and...
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Overall Olympic Standing
An active participant in many international sports competitions, Korea participated in the London Olympics in 1948 for the first time under its own national flag. In 1936, a Korean marathoner, Sohn Kee-jeong, won a gold medal in the Berlin Olympics, but he competed as a member of the Japanese team because Korea was under Japanese colonial rule at the time. Korea's athletes have continued to improve their pe...
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2002 FIFA Worldcup Korea, Japan
The 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan ended its one-month epic run on June 30, 2002. The first FIFA World Cup of the 21st century consisted of a total of 64 matches and was safely completed without any hooliganism or terrorist acts. The national teams of Korea and Japan both cleared the first round of competition, and played admirably, the Japanese team advancing to the final 16, and the Korean team astound...
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National Sports Events
▲ The National Sports Festival
The National Sports Festival is held every October featuring competition in 39 different sports by participants from all over the nation. The festival is held on a rotational basis in major cities, including Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Incheon. The Children's National Sports Festival is also held annually for primary and middle school students, drawing over 10,000 boys an...
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Popular Sports
Koreans also competed well among the top athletes in the Olympics as well as in other major international events, such as baseball, golf, archery, shooting, table tennis, ski jump, short-track speed skating, figure skating and swimming. Recently, Korean baseball stars have begun to make a name for themselves in American and Japanese leagues. In golf, Korea has recently produced many world-class players. In particular, profession...
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Traditional Sports
Ancient Koreans are recorded to have engaged in numerous traditional sports and games, such as kite flying, tug-of-war, geune, jegichagi, neolttwigi as well as taekwondo and ssireum. Among the traditional sports that have been revived in modern times, the martial art of taekwondo is the best known and the only officially acknowledged sport to have originated in Korea and be practiced widely around the world. Taekwo...
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