No?
Maybe it’s time to know a bit more about South Korea’s typical sports!
I had the inspiration for this article after seeing a drama that speaks of sport but at the same time love: Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo.
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Weightlifting
Even though there are not many Olympic weightlifters that compete, they belong to this list as well as other athletes!
South Korea is honored to have some weightlifting champions. In 2008, Im Jyoung-Hwa won silver.
Perhaps the most famous South Korean weighingliftter is Jang Mi-Ran, who won gold, silver and bronze at the Olympics and four gold and bronze medals in the World Championships.
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Swimming
South Korea did not really develop a well-organized swimming program, only one of their athletes won a medal at the Olympics: Park Tae Hwan.
He is actually a very impressive athlete and has won four Olympic medals including gold. However, he was caught with drugs in 2014. It was a huge scandal and, having served his ban on swimming races, he invited the Sports Arbitration Court to national television to convince them to swim in the Olympics of Rio. He won the appeal but he did not win in any of his divisions.
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Taekwondo
Korea is famous for the creation of Taekwondo, a combination of karate martial arts, Chinese martial arts and traditional Korean martial arts (Taekkyeon, Subak and Gwonbeop). Taekwondo became an Olympic sport in 2000.
Other forms of martial art have been compared to bees or grasshoppers, but taekwondo is compared to a butterfly because of its pretty movements.
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Football
The most popular sport in Korea is football. Their national football team was the first in Asia to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals in 2002 and 2010. They have been qualified for every World Cup since 1986 and in a poll 41% of Koreans said they were interested in football.
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Tennis
Tennis has been a popular sport in Korea but it is not played very often. If you see someone playing tennis, he’s probably an old person.
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Golf
South Korean women have dominated the golf world around the world. Six of the top ten players in the world come from South Korea.
Park Se Ri was one of the first to win a gold medal in golf.
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Hockey
Hockey is gaining popularity in South Korea. Although the sport is not sufficiently developed at the Olympic level, South Korea will be eligible to participate because it is the host country. Jim Paek accepted an invitation from the Korea Ice Hockey Association in 2014 to form the team that could win the Olympics. Unfortunately, they have issued a statement in April stating that they will not participate in the 2018 Olympics. It is a sensitive topic because many players express their desire to play regardless of the decision.
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Baseball
It is believed that baseball has been introduced to South Korea by American missionaries and has become a very popular sport in Korea. They have ten professional teams in the baseball organization and the tough season from March to October. They have one of the best international teams and compete in the World Baseball Classic.
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Volleyball
Although baseball and football are the most popular sports in South Korea, volleyball seems to be the most popular sport of kdramaland. The South Korean women’s volleyball team is one of the best in Asia and was one of the most important international competitors in the 1970s when it won bronze in the Olympics and ranked fourth in the 90s.
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Basketball
South Korea has ten teams. Each team has the ability to have 3 foreign players.
These are the 10 most popular sports in Korea. I hope you liked this article and … to the next!
