From September 21, the competition schedule will be packed. The women's football match between North and South Korea and the baseball game against Taiwan will take place on the same day, alongside swimmers Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min. Following them will be Song Se-ra, Oh Sang-wook, and Shin Yu-bin, with Woo Sang-hyeok competing in the high jump finals on the 27th.
The South Korean team aims to secure 40 to 45 gold medals and finish third overall. They are striving for a third consecutive third-place finish after the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang and 2022 Hangzhou games. Closing the gap with Japan is also a priority, as Japan won 52 gold medals in Hangzhou without fielding some of their top athletes, compared to South Korea's 42.
A 10-gold medal difference is significant, especially with Japan hosting the event this time. The interest lies not only in South Korea maintaining its third-place position but also in how competitively they can challenge Japan. This competition will also reveal how the dynamics between China and Japan have shifted.
The medal count is the most immediate outcome to observe, indicating which sports have improved and where South Korea has fallen behind. This sensitivity to gold medal totals and overall rankings is a recurring theme at the Asian Games.
However, there is another aspect to consider: the Los Angeles (LA) Olympics in two years.
Hwang Sun-woo and Kim Woo-min are already competing on the world stage. Oh Sang-wook is a two-time champion from the Paris Olympics, and Song Se-ra won the individual event at the World Championships in July. Woo Sang-hyeok has consistently faced off against the world's best athletes, yet he has yet to win an Asian Games gold medal.
For these athletes, this event is more than just another international competition; it is an opportunity to assess their current performance and prepare for the future. This is also crucial for lesser-known athletes, as those who demonstrate competitiveness here could become key members of the LA Olympic team.
Thus, it would be a missed opportunity to focus solely on the gold medal count. It is essential to examine whether swimming, fencing, and archery remain strong, and how much progress has been made in previously weaker sports. In sports undergoing generational changes, it is important to identify emerging talents. The concentration of medals among a few star athletes and the emergence of new competitors across various sports will serve as indicators of the current state of South Korean sports.
From September 21, major South Korean athletes will compete almost daily for a week. Both victories and records will be significant. Observing how much they can improve their personal bests, the gap between them and the world's elite, and the number of unfamiliar names that appear will be key points of interest.
The medals earned in Nagoya will soon be reflected in the tally. However, the names we will see again in two years at the LA Olympics remain unknown. It will be intriguing to see how many of those names we can identify from this Asian Games.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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