One gold, and a target missed
South Korea ended the individual judo competition at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games with one gold medal, three silver medals and four bronze medals. The result fell well short of the team’s goal of winning four individual golds, leaving athletes and supporters to wonder what might have been.
The gold came from Heo Mimi, who won the women’s 57-kilogram division on October 1. Every medal represented a demanding run through a high-level field, but the final standings were particularly frustrating because all three silver medals came after losses in the gold-medal bouts.
South Korea’s individual campaign brought eight medals, but only one was gold. The team’s next opportunity comes in the mixed-team competition on October 3.
Strong hopes met by a difficult tournament
Expectations had been high before the competition began. South Korea brought a deep squad, with medal contenders including Lee Ha-rim in the 60-kilogram division, Heo in the 57-kilogram class, Lee Jun-hwan at 81 kilograms, Kim Min-jong in the over-100-kilogram category and Lee Hyun-ji in the women’s over-78-kilogram division.
Other members of the team were also considered capable of reaching the podium. The sense within the judo community was that gold medals could come from several different athletes, rather than depending on one or two favorites. That breadth made the eventual total of one individual gold feel more disappointing than the overall medal count alone might suggest.
The medals were shared across the squad: Heo won gold; Jang Se-yun, Kim Min-ju and Lee Hyun-ji took silver; and Lee Jun-hwan, Kim Min-jong, Kim Jong-hoon and Han Ju-yeop earned bronze. The results showed that South Korea remained competitive across a range of weight classes, even as it struggled to turn strong performances into victories in the finals.
Close finals and early setbacks
Jang opened the team’s campaign with an unexpected silver on the first day, giving South Korea an encouraging start. Heo followed the next day by winning gold with a decisive throw. But on October 2, Lee Hyun-ji appeared to have the strength and skill to claim the title before a momentary opening allowed her opponent to execute a ko-soto-gake, a foot-sweep technique that brought the bout to an end with an ippon—judo’s equivalent of a decisive, immediate victory.
Kim Min-ju also fought a close final that continued into golden score, the extra period used when a bout is tied after regular time. She ultimately lost after a contested decision. For athletes who had fought their way to the final, narrowly missing gold made the silver medals feel especially hard to accept.
South Korea also faced misfortune early in the tournament. Lee Ha-rim, who was seeking a medal at his third consecutive Asian Games after winning bronze in 2018 and silver in 2022, lost in the round of 16 after an opponent’s chokehold left him briefly unconscious. Under judo rules, a competitor who is rendered unconscious by a choke is automatically defeated by ippon.
Another setback came in the women’s 48-kilogram division, where Jung Su-jin failed a random weigh-in and was eliminated before she could compete on the mat. These incidents narrowed the team’s chances before some of its athletes had a genuine opportunity to fight for a medal.
A difficult result in historical context
The outcome also revived memories of the previous Asian Games. At the Hangzhou Games, held in 2023 after being postponed from 2022, South Korea won just one judo gold, along with two silvers and six bronzes. That was the country’s lowest gold-medal total at the time, below the two golds it had won at the 1990 Beijing Games.
The team had prepared intensively in the hope of improving on that record. Its one individual gold in Aichi-Nagoya therefore represents a missed opportunity, even though the silver and bronze medals demonstrate that South Korean judoka remained capable of reaching the sport’s highest levels.
Medal counts offer only one measure of a team’s performance. A final appearance can also reveal how an athlete handles pressure, adapts when an opponent changes tactics and responds after a mistake. Those skills can determine whether a close loss becomes a future win—much as a small lapse in balance can decide a judo bout in seconds.
Young athletes offer a reason for hope
Several of the team’s most encouraging performances came from athletes gaining experience at the Asian Games. Jang Se-yun and Kim Min-ju stood out, while Lee Hyun-ji reached a final and showed she could challenge established opponents. For competitors appearing at the Games for the first time, the tournament offered valuable experience in front of a major international audience.
Lee Hyun-ji’s final illustrated both her potential and the fine margins involved. She read her opponent’s intentions, but was unable to adjust quickly enough in the decisive moment. She also showed boldness by taking on an opponent who had previously been a difficult matchup for her.
A judo official said the experience could make the athletes more formidable at future competitions, including the Olympics in two years and the next Asian Games in four. That outlook is not a guarantee of future medals, but it points to a practical benefit of the tournament: young athletes now have a clearer sense of what high-pressure finals demand and where they need to improve.
Mixed-team event offers an immediate second chance
South Korea’s individual events are over, but the team still has a chance to change the story of its judo campaign. The mixed-team competition is scheduled for October 3, with bouts across the weight categories listed by the team: 57 kilograms, 73 kilograms, 70 kilograms, 90 kilograms, over 70 kilograms and over 90 kilograms.
The squad says it is determined to make the most of the event. Kim Min-jong said that although the team had not won many gold medals individually, its overall strength remained high. Han Ju-yeop vowed to compete with total commitment, saying he would approach the contest as if he were willing to break his arm for the team.
The mixed-team event gives South Korea a chance to put its depth to the test—and to finish the judo competition with a stronger result.
A mixed-team format brings athletes from different weight classes together to compete for one team result, rather than awarding medals to individuals for separate brackets. That makes coordination and consistency especially important: a strong performance in one bout can help, but the final outcome depends on the team’s effort across the full lineup.
South Korea’s individual campaign has exposed the cost of missed chances, close decisions and brief errors. It has also shown that several younger judoka can compete for medals, giving the team both an immediate challenge on October 3 and a longer-term foundation to build on.
