PARIS — South Korea secured the bronze medal in the judo mixed team event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, marking the country's fifth judo medal at these games.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the critical match against Germany was decided in a sudden-death bout in the men's -73-kilogram division, following a 3-3 tie through the initial series of matches. The decisive moment came when South Korea’s An Baul claimed victory over Germany's Igor Wandtke, who received his third and final "shido," or penalty for non-combativity, at 5:25 into the match.
The mixed team event, which groups three male and three female judokas from each team, was introduced at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics and includes the -73kg, -90kg, and +90kg divisions for men, and -57kg, -70kg, and +70kg for women.
In the contest for the bronze, South Korea fielded all four of their individual medalists from this Olympics. The matches began with a loss for South Korea’s Lee Joon-hwan in the -90kg category to Eduard Trippel. However, subsequent victories by Kim Ha-yun in the +70kg division, Kim Min-jong in the +90kg division, and Huh Mimi in the -57kg category gave South Korea a 3-1 lead.
The competition intensified as An Baul and Kim Ji-su subsequently lost their matches, allowing Germany to level the score at 3-3. The tie led to the selection of the -73kg category for the decisive bout, where An faced Wandtke again. This time, An managed to withstand early pressure and secured the win following Wandtke’s penalty, ensuring the bronze medal for South Korea.