South Korea sends women’s gymnastics team, led by Yeo Seo-jeong, to Olympics

Yeo Seo-jeong performed in the women’s vault final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics held at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on August 1, 2021. [NEWS1]

Three years after Yeo Seo-jeong became the first Korean woman to win a medal in Olympic gymnastics, eight Korean gymnasts, including the women’s team, have qualified for the Paris Olympics.

Ryu Sung-hyun, Lee Jun-ho and Heo Eun will represent South Korea in the men’s competition, while Yeo, Uhm Do-hyun, Lee Da-yeon, Lee Yun-seo and Shin Sulli will represent South Korea in the women’s competition.

Twelve countries qualify for the men’s and women’s team events, with each team made up of five athletes. If a team is unable to qualify for the Olympics, individual athletes can also qualify based on their world rankings.

The South Korean women’s team advanced to the individual all-around final at the 2023 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships to be held in Antwerp, Germany, and secured a spot in the Olympics.

The South Korean women’s gymnastics team practiced at the Le Bourget International Broadcasting Center in Paris on Monday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

It was a milestone for South Korea, a country not traditionally strong in gymnastics on the international stage: 10 of South Korea’s 11 Olympic medals have come from men.

South Korea’s gymnastics team will travel to Paris without veteran gymnast Kim Han-sol, who was replaced by Heo after Kim injured her left knee during practice just a few weeks before the opening ceremony.

Heo, who is making his Olympic debut, specializes in the pommel horse. Ryu is part of the men’s team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he placed fourth in the floor exercise, as is Lee Jun-ho, the oldest member of the South Korean gymnastics team at 28 years old.

Yeo, the daughter of three-time Olympic gymnast Yeo Hong-chul, is one of two gymnasts returning to the women’s team.

Yeo Seo-jung, a member of the South Korean women’s gymnastics team, embraces her father, Yeo Hong-cheol, executive director of the Korea Gymnastics Association, before departing from Incheon International Airport on July 17. [YONHAP]

She’ll be looking to do better in Tokyo after winning a bronze medal on vault, the same event in which her father won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Lee Yun-seo also finished 21st in the women’s individual all-around in Tokyo.

Lee Da-yeon, Uhm and Shin are all competing in their Olympic Games for the first time.

Ryu Sung-hyun competed in the men’s individual floor exercise held at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo on August 1, 2021. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The men’s individual events are pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars, horizontal bar and floor exercise.

The girls will compete on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.

South Korea has won 11 Olympic medals in gymnastics. Shin Jae-hwan was the men’s vault champion in Tokyo, giving South Korea its second gymnastics gold medal since Yang Hak-seon won his first in 2012.

The Olympic gymnastics competition will take place from July 27 to August 5, starting with the men’s qualification round, followed by the women’s qualification round the following day.

Mary Yang, Kevin Chan [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]