The

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

(commonly known as South Korea) first participated at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for 1980 which they

boycotted A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

. South Korea has also participated in every

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

since 1948, except for the 1952 games.

History

The first Korean athletes to win medals did so at the 1936 Summer Olympics in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, when

Sohn Kee-chung Sohn Kee-chung ( ko, 손기정, ; ; August 29, 1912 – November 15, 2002) was an Olympic athlete and long-distance runner. He became the first ethnic Korean to win a medal at the Olympic Games, winning gold in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin O ...

and

Nam Sung-yong Nam Sung-yong (November 23, 1912 – February 20, 2001) was a Korean Olympian who won a bronze medal in the marathon at the 1936 Summer Olympics, completing the run in 2 hours, 31 minutes, and 42 seconds. He was born in Junten (Suncheon), ...

won gold and bronze respectively in the men's marathon. However, as Korea was under Japanese rule at that time, and, since both athletes were members of the Japanese team, the IOC credits both medals to Japan. South Korea won its first medals as an independent nation at its first appearance in 1948, and won its first gold medal in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

. South Korean athletes have won a total of 287 medals at the Summer Games, with the most gold medals won in archery, and 70 medals at the Winter Games, a majority in

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

. The nation has won more medals in this winter sport than any other nation since it was introduced to the Olympic program in 1992. The National Olympic Committee for Korea is the

Korean Olympic Committee The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (, Abbr.: KOC) is the National Olympic Committee of Republic of Korea (competing as Korea) for the Olympic Games movement and inbound sports issue. It is a non-profit organization that selects players and ...

, and was founded in 1946 and recognized in 1947. During the 1998-2007

Sunshine Policy The Sunshine Policy () is the theoretical basis for South Korea's foreign policy towards North Korea. Its official title is The Reconciliation and Cooperation Policy Towards the North (), and it is also known as The Operational Policy Towards the ...

era, South Korea and

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

symbolically marched as one team at the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004 and 2006 Olympics, but competed separately.

Hosted Games

The Republic of Korea has hosted the Games on two occasions:

Unsuccessful bids

Medals

:''* Purple border colour indicates tournament was held on home soil.''

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by Winter Games

Medals by Summer Sport

Medals by Winter Sport

Most successful Olympians

South Korean volunteer at the Seoul Olympic games

Notes

On 11 February 2014, Lee Sang-hwa won the gold medal for the women's 500m longtrack speedskating race at the

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, having previously won the one at the 2010 Games. She became the third woman and first Korean woman to win back-to-back golds at the 500m.

Participated event by competition

Summer Olympics

* d : demonstration sports * e : exhibition sports

Winter Olympics

* d : demonstration sports

Hosted Olympic logo and motto

1988 Summer Olympics

The

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, held in the capital of

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, marked the first time the Olympics were held in South Korea. The logo consists of a rounded tricolor which represents the Olympic rings. The motto of the games was ''Harmony and Progress'' (화합과 전진).

2018 Winter Olympics

The

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

saw the Olympics return to Korea when it was held in Pyeongchang. The logo consists of five intertwined wings which represent the continents (Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania). The motto of the games was ''Passion. Connected.'' (하나된 열정; Hanadoen, Yeoljeong).

References

External links

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