Gwangju High School Team Wins 61 Medals at National Sports Festival

Gold 22 · Silver 15 · Bronze 24

The high school athletes from the Gwangju region exceeded their goals at the "104th National Sports Festival," showcasing their honed skills to the fullest.

According to the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education on the 19th, 427 high school students from Gwangju participated in 39 events at this National Sports Festival held in Jeonnam, winning a total of 61 medals: 22 gold, 15 silver, and 24 bronze.

Gymnastics prodigy Moon Geon-yeong (Gwangju Physical Education High School, Grade 2), known as the "Second Yang Hak-seon" and demonstrating a class of a different level, scored 81.566 points in the individual all-around gymnastics event, achieving the first-ever consecutive two-time championship in the high school division of the National Sports Festival. He then won gold medals in all seven of his main events, including floor exercise, horizontal bar, and parallel bars, accomplishing the feat of sweeping all gold medals at the competition.

The rowing team of Gwangju Physical Education High School, which has recently shown strong performances in various competitions, also swept a total of four gold medals at this festival.

At the Jangseongho Rowing Course in Jeonnam, they demonstrated their national dominance in men's double sculls, women's double sculls, quadruple sculls, and lightweight double sculls. Especially, the four female rowers, who cut through the water with teamwork and passion despite strong winds, all earned the honor of being two-time champions.

The aerobics representatives from Gwangju Physical Education High School, a stronghold sport, also showed excellent results. With fantastic synchronization, they won gold medals in both the duo and trio categories. Additionally, in women's finswimming, Yang Hyun-ji in the surface 200m and Hwang Yoon-hyung in the surface 400m events played outstanding roles, securing a total of seven medals: two gold, three silver, and two bronze. Notably, the gold medal-winning surface 200m and the silver medal-winning 4x100m relay set new competition records with times of 1:32.19 and 2:47.30, respectively.

At the wrestling competition held at Hampyeong Culture and Sports Center, brothers Lee Jae-hyeok (F97kg, Gwangju Physical Education High School, Grade 1) and Lee Jun-hyeok (F125kg, Gwangju Physical Education High School, Grade 3), sons of a wrestling coach, along with female wrestler Lim Seon-gyo (WF76kg), led a medal haul of three gold, one silver, and four bronze medals.

In athletics, Kim Chan-song (Gwangju Physical Education High School, Grade 3) sprinted to gold in the 100m hurdles, followed by Kim Ga-hyun (Gwangju Physical Education High School, Grade 3) delivering a golden kick in the Taekwondo -58kg category.

Strong performances were also evident in bracketed events. Gwangju Dongsin High School, a powerhouse in boys' soft tennis, lived up to its reputation by winning a valuable gold medal in the team event. Sena Kim, a second-year student at Seojin Girls' High School, which is in its second year since establishment, won gold in the individual singles, raising expectations for her future growth.

Other notable achievements include the silver medal earned by the Gwangju Jeil High School hockey team, who showed fighting spirit despite a narrow loss, as well as silver medals for the fencing team of Pungam High School and the squash team of Dongil Mirae Science High School. Additionally, the water polo team composed of Gwangju Physical Education High School athletes, the basketball team of Gwangju Supia Girls' High School, the rugby team of Jeonnam High School, and the kendo team of Gwangju Seoseok High School all proved their valuable efforts by winning bronze medals.

Superintendent Lee Jeong-seon said, "We proudly send our wholehearted applause and encouragement to all our athletes who have reaped great results from the sweat they have shed. Our Office of Education will continue to provide systematic and sustained support to expand the base of sports and discover outstanding athletes through improving training conditions and cooperating with related organizations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.