South Korea at the 2012 Summer Olympics
| South Korea at the 2012 Summer Olympics |
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| IOC code | KOR | ||||||||
| NOC | Korean Olympic Committee | ||||||||
| Website |
www |
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| in London | |||||||||
| Competitors | 248 in 22 sports | ||||||||
| Flag bearer |
Yoon Kyung-shin (opening) Song Dae-nam  (closing) |
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Medals Ranked 5th |
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| Summer Olympics appearances (overview) | |||||||||
| Qualified for the quarter-finals |
South Korea (officially the Republic of Korea) competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from July 27 to August 12, 2012. This was the nation's sixteenth appearance at the Olympics, having missed the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the United States boycott. The Korean Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games since 1992. A total of 248 athletes, 135 men and 113 women, competed in 22 sports.
South Korea left London with a total of 28 medals (13 gold, 8 silver, and 7 bronze), finishing fifth in the medal standings and tying its record with Beijing for the most gold medals at a single Olympics. Six of these medals were awarded to the team in fencing, five in shooting, four in archery, and three in judo. South Korean athletes dominated in archery, where they won gold medals in all but one sporting events and broke two world records. Despite the absence of baseball and softball at the Olympics, South Korea's team-based athletes proved successful in London, as the men's football team won the bronze medal against neighbouring Japan. For the first time in its history, South Korea won Olympic medals in team fencing.
Among the nation's medalists were pistol shooter Jin Jong-oh, and taekwondo jin Hwang Kyung-seon, who both successfully defended their Olympic titles from Beijing. Three South Korean athletes won Olympic gold medals for the first time in history: gymnast Yang Hak-seon in the men's vault exercises, archer Oh Jin-hyek in the men's individual event, and sabre fencer Kim Ji-yeon in the women's individual event. Park Tae-hwan, who won two silver in London, emerged as the most successful South Korean swimmer in history, with a total of four Olympic medals.
The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) selected a team of 245 athletes, 133 men and 112 women, to compete in 24 sports; it was the nation's smallest team sent to the Olympics since 1992. South Korea did not qualify athletes in basketball, canoeing, equestrian, and tennis. There was only a single competitor in rhythmic gymnastics, and in triathlon.
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