Paris Olympics, Why Like This for Korea... 'Fencing Gold' Osanguk Mistakenly Written as Osanguk

At the opening ceremony, the Paris Olympics introduced South Korea as North Korea, and this time, they misspelled the name of Oh Sang-wook (28, Daejeon City Hall), who won South Korea's first gold medal.

Osanguk is rejoicing after his victory.
Photo by Yonhap News

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Oh Sang-wook, the ace of the men's sabre fencing team, defeated Pares Ferjani of Tunisia, ranked 14th in the world, 15-11 in the men's sabre individual final held on the 27th (local time) at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, and won the gold medal.

With this, he became the first Korean fencer to achieve the individual Grand Slam. The Grand Slam means winning individual gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games, and Asian Championships. Oh previously won the World Championship gold medal in 2019, gold medals at the Asian Championships in 2019 and this year, and a gold medal at last year's Hangzhou Asian Games.

A screenshot from the official Paris Olympics social media showing Oh Sanguk's English name incorrectly posted as 'Oh Sanguk'. [Photo by Paris Olympics SNS]

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It was a glorious moment, but the official Instagram account of the Paris Olympics, 'Paris 2024,' mistakenly posted Oh Sang-wook's name as 'Oh Sang-gu.' The post by the Paris Olympics stated, "Congratulations on South Korea's victory. Oh Sang-gu has become the Olympic champion. Congratulations on his gold medal." Despite all official materials and MY INFO at the Grand Palais showing Oh Sang-wook's name correctly that day, a critical typo was left on SNS.

This mistake occurred just a day after an apology for the naming fiasco at the opening ceremony. Previously, regarding the naming fiasco, Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), personally called President Yoon Suk-yeol and said, "An inexcusable incident occurred, and I offer my sincere and deep apologies." President Yoon urged for prevention of recurrence, and President Bach promised, "I fully understand your concerns and will take all possible measures," adding, "We will strive to ensure this never happens again." However, a basic mistake of incorrectly spelling the gold medalist's name happened again. Criticism toward the French Olympic Organizing Committee has grown even louder.

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