At the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games closing press conference, Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korea Sports Council, defined this tournament as "the most protested tournament in history."
At a press conference held at the Korea House near the Main Media Center (MMC) in Nagoya, Japan on the 4th, Chairman Yoo said, "Now that the competition is almost over, it is difficult to talk in detail," but added, "We will use this competition as an opportunity to prepare for the Chungcheong Universiade (next year)."
This tournament exposed overall problems ranging from accommodation, transportation, training, and competition environment.
To save costs, instead of building separate athletes' villages, they were distributed among cruise ships, container accommodations, and downtown hotels. In the aftermath, a transportation crisis occurred and the players suffered great inconvenience.
At the men's soccer final on the 3rd, where Chairman Yoo attended as a medal recipient, there were constant accidents, big and small, such as the Taegeukgi not being raised properly during Korea's gold medal ceremony.
Chairman Yoo said, "We will look back on the Asian Games carefully and prepare a competition befitting our national status. The working staff of the Korea Sports Council has worked really hard."
In this competition, Korea sent 790 athletes to 41 of 43 events and won a total of 150 medals, including 39 gold medals, 43 silver medals, and 68 bronze medals, placing third overall.
Although the number of medals decreased compared to the 2022 Hangzhou Games, the team evaluated itself as achieving results in diversifying sports and discovering new gold veins despite structural disadvantages such as the exclusion of sports such as roller, baduk, shooting, and running target, and the reduction of Taekwondo sparring.
Kim Taek-soo, head of the national athlete village, said in a performance report, "Despite the disadvantages of the reorganization of the event structure, there were meaningful achievements, such as diversification of medal events and the first gold medal in a new event."
Modern pentathlete Seung-min Seong became the first gold medalist in the history of Korean women's individual competition, and skateboarder Kang Jun-i overcame failures in the first and second periods and succeeded in the most difficult technique in the third period to win the gold medal.
Archery compound Kim Jong-ho, Kurashi 87kg Kim Min-young, and techball Lee Jun-seok each won their first gold medals in their respective events, and 3-on-3 men's basketball made history by winning the first gold medal and Korea's 800th gold medal in the Asian Games despite difficult conditions.
The competitiveness of traditional strong stocks was also reaffirmed.
They achieved 4 consecutive wins in the men's fencing saber team event and men's soccer, and 5 consecutive wins in baseball, proving once again that they are the best in Asia.
Cho Kwang-hee, Kim Hyo-bin, Lee Geon-hyuk, Lee Woo-seok, and Oh Sang-wook won two gold medals, and badminton Ahn Se-young won the first women's team title in Asian Games history for two consecutive times, and the women's doubles team won gold for the first time in 24 years.
Yacht Ha Ji-min won her fourth gold medal after competing five times in a row.
The ball games also performed well, with basketball winning gold medals (one bronze medal) in three out of four sports, soccer winning gold in the men's division, and women's handball winning gold for the first time in eight years.
On the other hand, in swimming, track and field, and weightlifting, even though many new records were set in Korea and competitions, they were not able to lead to medals, and the 'Asian wall' was felt.
The Korea Sports Council announced that not only China and the host country Japan, but also Central Asian and Southeast Asian countries are growing rapidly, and that the task is to coolly reexamine the competitiveness of each event two years before the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics.
Team leader Lee Sang-hyun said, “I thought I was prepared after gaining experience as a vice-team leader in the Hangzhou and Paris competitions, but I was embarrassed by the various problems that arose. I believe the team and the Sports Council responded quickly and resolved the issue, but I learned a lesson that prior training is needed to prevent players from being embarrassed by such unexpected incidents and accidents in the future.”
He continued, "There were difficulties in moving to the stadium and training ground, and there were times when the players had to endure inconveniences, but the coaches and officials did their best in their positions so that the players could focus on the game without being shaken."
Chairman Yoo also mentioned the importance of international sports diplomacy in relation to operational issues.
He said, "In the future, in order to overcome such unexpected situations, we will be more active in international activities," and "We will closely look into the areas of support at the sports association level to ensure that the athletes are not swayed by unnecessary external variables."
Chairman Yoo also mentioned comments made by some players who received special military service exemptions during the tournament that did not match the public sentiment.
He said, "We have trained a lot of interview skills through knowledge training, but it is difficult to control the remarks of all players. In some ways, these are remarks that do not fit the public sentiment. As a national team player, we will look for ways to have dignity in expression."
