Judo's Kim Min-jong Secures Olympic Silver Medal... New History for Korea's Heaviest Weight Class [Paris Olympics]

Kim Min-jong (23, Yangpyeong County Office), South Korea's top heavyweight judoka, secured a silver medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On the 2nd (local time), Kim Min-jong defeated Saito Tatsuru (Japan) in the men's over 100kg semifinal at the judo competition held at the Champ de Mars arena in Paris, France.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

With this, Kim Min-jong achieved the remarkable feat of winning a silver medal in his first Olympic appearance.

This is the first time South Korea has secured a silver medal in the heavyweight division since judo was adopted as an official Olympic sport in 1964.

Previous Olympic heavyweight medals were only bronze, won by Cho Yong-chul at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1988 Seoul Games, and Kim Sun-young at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Ranked number one in the world and number one in the Olympic rankings, Kim Min-jong had been considered a strong candidate to bring a gold medal to South Korean judo at this tournament.

In May, Kim Min-jong won the gold medal at the World Championships, becoming the first South Korean male heavyweight judoka in 39 years to do so.

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