# South Korea at the Olympics

The Republic of Korea (commonly known as South Korea) first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for 1980 which they boycotted. South Korea has also participated in every Winter Olympic Games since 1948, except for the 1952 games.
The first ethnic Korean athletes to win medals did so at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, when Sohn Kee-chung and Nam Sung-yong won gold and bronze respectively in the men's marathon as members of the Japanese team. As Korea was under Japanese rule at that time, making them both Japanese subjects, 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. South Korean athletes have won a total of 287 medals at the Summer Games, with the most gold medals won in archery, and 79 medals at the Winter Games, a majority in short track speed skating. 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, and was founded in 1946 and recognized in 1947.
During the 1998-2007 Sunshine Policy era, South Korea and North Korea symbolically marched as one team at the opening ceremonies of the 2000, 2004 and 2006 Olympics, but competed separately.

## Hosted games

South Korea has hosted the Games on two occasions:
| Games | Host city | Dates | Nations | Participants | Events |
| 1988 Summer Olympics | Seoul | 17 September – 2 October | 160 | 8,391 | 263 |
| 2018 Winter Olympics | Pyeongchang | 9 – 25 February | 92 | 2,952 | 102 |

### Unsuccessful bids

| Games | City | Winner of bid |
| 2010 Winter Olympics | Pyeongchang | Vancouver, Canada |
| 2014 Winter Olympics | Pyeongchang | Sochi, Russia |

## Medals

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

## Most successful Olympians

| Athlete | Sport | Type | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| Kim Woo-jin | Archery | Summer | 2016, 2020, 2024 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Jin Jong-oh | Shooting | Summer | 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Kim Soo-nyung | Archery | Summer | 1988, 1992, 2000 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Chun Lee-kyung | Short track speed skating | Winter | 1992, 1994, 1998 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Choi Min-jeong | Short track speed skating | Winter | 2018, 2022 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| Park Sung-hyun | Archery | Summer | 2004, 2008 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Ahn Hyun-soo | Short track speed skating | Winter | 2002, 2006 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Ki Bo-bae | Archery | Summer | 2012, 2016 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Lim Si-hyeon | Archery | Summer | 2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kim Je-deok | Archery | Summer | 2020, 2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Oh Sang-uk | Fencing | Summer | 2020, 2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Gu Bon-gil | Fencing | Summer | 2012, 2020, 2024 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| An San | Archery | Summer | 2020 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Jin Sun-yu | Short track speed skating | Winter | 2006 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Yun Mi-jin | Archery | Summer | 2000, 2004 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Kim Ki-hoon | Short track speed skating | Winter | 1992, 1994 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |