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'Gold 6' goal exceeded Paralympic athletes return home in style
The Korean team, which exceeded its goal by winning six gold medals at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, returned home in style.
The Korean Paralympic team completed their schedule at the Paris Games and entered the country through Incheon International Airport on the afternoon of the 10th.
As the arrival gate opened, Ji-yu Yoon (24, Seongnam City Hall), a silver medalist in the women's singles (sports grade WS3) table tennis competition, waved the Taegeukgi at the front of the team in a wheelchair pushed by team leader Dong-hyeon Bae.
The main team of players who returned home that day immediately moved to the Great Hall in Incheon International Airport where the disbandment ceremony was held.
People gathered at the airport stood on both sides of the procession of athletes returning from 12 days of intense competition, holding up placards and giving them warm applause and cheers.
At the disbandment ceremony attended by 160 people including 104 athletes and officials, Team Manager Bae Dong-hyun said, “The Paralympics are over, but a bright future is just beginning. I support everyone’s hopeful future.”
Team leader Bae Dong-hyeon gave gold medals to triathlete Kim Hwang-tae, known as the "armless ironman," and shooting team coach Jang Seong-won, who won three gold medals, and encouraged them.
The rest of the team also took commemorative photos, each wearing a gold medal around their neck and holding a bouquet of flowers, smiling brightly.
Jin-ho Park (Gangneung City Hall, Sports Grade SH1), who won two gold medals in shooting, was selected as the MVP of the Korean Paralympic team, as voted for by the Korea Paralympic Committee press corps.
In his welcoming speech, Korea Paralympic Committee Chairman Jeong Jin-wan said, “Yesterday’s glory and failure are now a thing of the past. I hope that the athletes who won medals will prepare for the future by maintaining their athletic performance and the athletes who unfortunately did not make it to the podium will prepare and make up for it.” He also encouraged the athletes by saying, “Let’s get some rest during the Chuseok holiday and make a new start. I applaud the long journey of the Paris Paralympic Games.”
Jang Mi-ran, Second Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, “We will do our best to create a healthy society where all citizens can fairly enjoy their sports rights and where people with and without disabilities can play together,” and added, “I congratulate you on completing all the games and returning home safely. I also thank the citizens who cheered you on so enthusiastically.”
Korea sent a team of 177 athletes, including 83 players (46 men and 37 women), to this competition and won 6 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 14 bronze medals, ranking 22nd overall.
The goal for this competition was initially set at five gold medals, but this was exceeded.
Shooting won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals, while table tennis won two gold, three silver and nine bronze medals.
In particular, Jin-Ho Park (Gangneung City Hall) won two gold medals in the R1 Men's 10m Air Rifle Standing (Sports Grade SH1) and the R7 Men's 50m Rifle 3 Positions (Sports Grade SH1).
Shooting coach Jo Jeong-du (BDH Paras, sports class SH1) won a gold medal in the P1 men's 10m air pistol event, and table tennis coach Kim Ki-tae won a gold medal in the men's singles event (sports class MS11).
Jeong Ho-won (Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Disabled Sports Association) won the men's individual boccia event (sport class BC3), bringing Korea the honor of winning the gold medal for the 10th consecutive competition.
On the 7th, a day before the closing ceremony, Kim Young-geon (Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall) won Korea's 6th gold medal in the men's singles table tennis (sports grade MS4).
It is the first time in eight years since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics that Korea has won six or more gold medals.
Korea, which had won double-digit gold medals in every competition from the 1988 Seoul Games to the 2008 Beijing Games, ranked 12th with nine gold medals in the 2012 London Games.
Korea had poor performances, finishing 20th (7 golds, 11 silvers, 17 bronzes) at the 2016 Rio Games and 41st (2 golds, 10 silvers, 12 bronzes) at the 2020 Tokyo Games. As a result of improving the national team's constitution through bold generational changes and support for sports science, Korea succeeded in achieving its goal.
However, there was also regret that the medals were concentrated in 6 out of the 17 events that took place.
Meanwhile, Won Yu-min (36), the first naturalized Paralympian with a disability, received a total of 296 votes in a vote conducted among participating athletes from the 26th of last month to the 5th of this month, the period of the Paralympics, recording the fourth highest number of votes among the 25 candidates and being elected as an athlete representative of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).