Have South Korean athletes become too complacent?

[Soju Gorae]

So far, only 6 gold, 10 silver, and 5 bronze.

We've flopped in categories we usually excel in like Judo, Handball, Field Hockey, Boxing, Wrestling, and Volleyball.

4 Taekwondo olympians, 2 boxers, and just 1 wrestler remain as the only athletes who can put additional medals for our country.

The worst Olympic campaign in 20 years for us. For the Beijing games, I think the Korean government should implement a program for our athletes to bounce back and get us back on track from this set-back and prepare for the next Olympics.

정말 짱 나네요... 쩝

[shenhua]

Why would Koreans be complacent? What did they do to earn complacency in the Olympics.

[K:theCore]

We dont have any freestyle wrestlers?

[WuTang2002]

Money's no longer there for the athletes.

[Elliad]

So far, only 6 gold, 10 silver, and 5 bronze.

We've flopped in categories we usually excel in like Judo, Handball, Field Hockey, Boxing, Wrestling, and Volleyball.

4 Taekwondo olympians, 2 boxers, and just 1 wrestler remain as the only athletes who can put additional medals for our country.

The worst Olympic campaign in 20 years for us. For the Beijing games, I think the Korean government should implement a program for our athletes to bounce back and get us back on track from this set-back and prepare for the next Olympics.

정말 짱 나네요... 쩝

Nah, we only got 7 and 8 golds in the last 2 olympics, and at the moment we are on our way to match that, or even better that if we do ok in the Taekwondo. Besides, we had our share of bad luck in this Olympics, with that Gymnastics debacle, and injuries to a few players with sure medal (even gold) chances in Judo, et c. It's a bit early to say this is the worst olympics in the last 20 years for us, but I think it look worse than it should because Japan's doing so well (unlike during the last few olympics).

But if anyone's to blame it's the Korean Olympic Committee and its officials, rather than the athletes. Some of the stuff I've read about them during this Olympic were quite disgusting, the ignorance and incompetence they showed.

[woorijim]

Money's no longer there for the athletes.

Yes perfectly correct. The reason Korea is underachieving at the Athens Olympics is because Korean IOC didn't invest as much money as the other rival nations in the last four years.

Getting a medal at the olympics is all about "how much money you've spent on players". If you look at the medal tally, surprisingly the top 20 nations are all developed nations with the exception of former soviet union/communist regime/eastern bloc nations. These nations could perform well despite limited amount of financial resources, because they've been regarding the olympics event as their no.1 tool to promote their national prestige to the world. Other than them, all the nations are developed in the top 20 ranking and it has been always like that in every past olympics.

I really don't understand why Korean IOC don't invest any money in swimming and athletics though. Japan and China are contantly proving that Asians can compete well against physically strong westerners. Why not Koreans? They can suddenly do well with the proper investment!

About Taekwondo, I don't think Korea will get as many medals as they did in Sydney after I read this. :D

http://soccer1.ktdom.com/bbs/zboard.php?id=soccer4u1&page=5&sn1=&divpage=2&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=headnum&desc=asc&no=10873

[Soju Gorae]

Medal history of south Korea in the last 3 Olympic summer games.

Seoul 1988

1. USSR URS 55 31 46
2. German Democratic Republic (1955-1990, GDR 37 35 30
3. United States of America USA 36 31 27
4. Korea KOR 12 10 11
5. Federal Republic of Germany (1950-1990, "GER" since) FRG 11 14 15
6. Hungary HUN 11 6 6
7. Bulgaria BUL 10 12 13
8. Romania ROM 7 11 6
9. France FRA 6 4 6
10. Italy ITA 6 4 4
11. People's Republic of China CHN 5 11 12
12. Great Britain GBR 5 10 9
13. Kenya KEN 5 2 2
14. Japan JPN 4 3 7
15. Australia AUS 3 6 5
16. Yugoslavia YUG 3 4 5
17. Czechoslovakia TCH 3 3 2
18. New Zealand NZL 3 2 8
19. Canada CAN 3 2 5
20. Poland POL 2 5 9

Barcelona 1992

1. Unified Team (ex USSR) EUN 45 38 29
2. United States of America USA 37 34 37
3. Germany GER 33 21 28
4. People's Republic of China CHN 16 22 16
5. Cuba CUB 14 6 11
6. Spain ESP 13 7 2
7. Korea KOR 12 5 12
8. Hungary HUN 11 12 7
9. France FRA 8 5 16
10. Australia AUS 7 9 11
11. Canada CAN 7 4 7
12. Italy ITA 6 5 8
13. Great Britain GBR 5 3 12
14. Romania ROM 4 6 8
15. Czechoslovakia TCH 4 2 1
16. Democratic People's Republic of Korea PRK 4 0 5
17. Japan JPN 3 8 11
18. Bulgaria BUL 3 7 6
19. Poland POL 3 6 10
20. Netherlands NED 2 6 7

Atlanta 1996

1. United States of America USA 44 32 25
2. Russian Federation RUS 26 21 16
3. Germany GER 20 18 27
4. People's Republic of China CHN 16 22 12
5. France FRA 15 7 15
6. Italy ITA 13 10 12
7. Australia AUS 9 9 23
8. Cuba CUB 9 8 8
9. Ukraine UKR 9 2 12
10. Korea KOR 7 15 5
11. Poland POL 7 5 5
12. Hungary HUN 7 4 10
13. Spain ESP 5 6 6
14. Romania ROM 4 7 9
15. Netherlands NED 4 5 10
16. Greece GRE 4 4 0
17. Czech Republic CZE 4 3 4
18. Switzerland SUI 4 3 0
19. Denmark DEN 4 1 1
20. Turkey TUR 4 1 1

Sydney 2000

1. United States of America USA 40 24 33
2. Russian Federation RUS 32 28 28
3. People's Republic of China CHN 28 16 15
4. Australia AUS 16 25 17
5. Germany GER 13 17 26
6. France FRA 13 14 11
7. Italy ITA 13 8 13
8. Netherlands NED 12 9 4
9. Cuba CUB 11 11 7
10. Great Britain GBR 11 10 7
11. Romania ROM 11 6 8
12. Korea KOR 8 10 10
13. Hungary HUN 8 6 3
14. Poland POL 6 5 3
15. Japan JPN 5 8 5
16. Bulgaria BUL 5 6 2
17. Greece GRE 4 6 3
18. Sweden SWE 4 5 3
19. Norway NOR 4 3 3
20. Ethiopia ETH 4 1 3

[roger1980boy]

yes, koreans have to work hard.
japanese was behind you in 2000, but in 2004.........amazing enough, they are at the 5th place!!!!!! in fact i think there is no differece between 3 4 5 at the moment................

[Elliad]

yes, koreans have to work hard.
japanese was behind you in 2000, but in 2004.........amazing enough, they are at the 5th place!!!!!! in fact i think there is no differece between 3 4 5 at the moment................

Japan was behind us ever since 1988 :) But they did really well at this Olympic, that's for sure.

[roger1980boy]

Japan was behind us ever since 1988 :) But they did really well at this Olympic, that's for sure.
especially on judo.

[woorijim]

Japan was behind us ever since 1988 :) But they did really well at this Olympic, that's for sure.

Japan will get more medals than Athens come Beijing. They set up a 10-year long term "Gold plan" in 2001. Only 3 years after the plan has been set, they are already producing the result from their investment which is more than impressive.

As I said before, the theory of "money/economy = medals" is/has been/will always be applied at the olympics. Here's an interesting article about a group of American economists who predicted a total number of medals for each country at the Athens Olympics.

http://news.naver.com/news/read.php?mode=LSD&office_id=001&article_id=0000734125&section_id=001&menu_id=001

[riceburner3508]

I know the Chinese government awards money to their medal winners. Does Korea have a similar system?

[shenhua]

I know the Chinese government awards money to their medal winners. Does Korea have a similar system?

Of course, the Koreans are prepared to pay much more than China.

Gold medal bonuses of some East Asian countries/territories.(all in US dollars)
Chinese Taipei $342, 000
South Korea $130, 000
Japan $45, 000
China $24, 000

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/08/15/2003198791

[Hyok]

Koreans have a tendency to use Japan as a scale. Beat Japan, feel good. Do worse than Japan, feel bad. I look at the number of medals, and Korea is doing about as well, if not better, than past olympics.

If anything, Japan has consistently underachieved at the olympics. A country of 120M people should be doing much better than they have been. This definitely has been their breakout year.

The truly outstanding country is Australia. They only have 20M people, but consistently is among the top five. They are THE top medal country per capita.

At least Korea beats Japan on a per capita basis, eh? Plus, a unified Korea medal count is just a couple below Japan's, though Japan has simply run away with the gold this olympiad.

[riceburner3508]

Plus, a unified Korea medal count is just a couple below Japan's, though Japan has simply run away with the gold this olympiad.


They're close, but Japan leads by more than a couple. More like 8.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/index.html?qs=1

[dreamer]

Of course, the Koreans are prepared to pay much more than China.

South Korea $130, 000
Japan $45, 000
China $24, 000


Wow didn't realize South Koreans are paying their athletes that much more than even Japan, which is a much richer country. I wonder why Japan doesn't put more money in sports? Maybe China should raise the bounty too in 2008.

[WuTang2002]

Wow didn't realize South Koreans are paying their athletes that much more than even Japan, which is a much richer country. I wonder why Japan doesn't put more money in sports? Maybe China should raise the bounty too in 2008.


Putting money as baits for medals doesn't work that much, otherwise, rich oil countries would have a lot more medals than what they have now.
Investing in general infrastructure and other social structures such as corporate sponsorships, commercial contracts, and etc. are the ones that pump up medals and it's 10000 times more costly and time consuming than mere "cash" prizes.

[shenhua]

Singapore actually offered one million US dollars for Gold, 500k for silver and 250k for bronze. They actually had a few decent chances as their best athletes are all imports from China and Indonesia, but in the end no one took home the cash.

[Hyok]

They're close, but Japan leads by more than a couple. More like 8.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/index.html?qs=1

Final score:

Japan 37 medals, population 120M
S Korea 30 medals, population 48M
N Korea 5 medals, population 23M

Thank you.