SEOUL — South Korea's hopes for a third consecutive taekwondo medal were dashed on Friday when Seo Geon-woo lost in the men's -80-kilogram bronze medal match at the Olympics. This left the nation's gold medal count unchanged at 13 as the competition moves into its final weekend.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Seo initially showed promise of possibly breaking the record for gold medals but was defeated in the semifinals by Iran's Mehran Barkhordari with scores of 2-4, 13-9, and 12-8. Later, Seo faced Edi Hrnic of Denmark in the bronze medal contest, where he lost 2-0 (15-2, 11-8), ending South Korea's run in the event.
In other Olympic events, South Korean athletes Jun Woong-tae and Seo Chang-wan have successfully qualified for the final in the men's modern pentathlon. Jun, the 2021 Olympic bronze medalist, and Seo, making his Olympic debut, finished second and fifth respectively in Group B of the semifinals, with the top nine from each group advancing to Saturday's final.
Additionally, in diving, Shin Jung-hwi advanced to the semifinals of the men's 10m platform event after scoring 369.20 points in the preliminaries, placing him 17th out of 26 divers. The top 12 in Saturday's semifinal will proceed to the final.
In women's 62kg freestyle wrestling, Lee Hanbit was defeated 3-0 by Germany's Luisa Niemesch in the round of 16. Lee had received a last-minute entry into the Olympics following a withdrawal by a North Korean athlete but was unable to advance further as Niemesch did not reach the final.
Lastly, in weightlifting, Yu Dong-ju placed sixth in the men's 89kg category with a total lift of 371kg, marking his personal best at the Olympics after finishing 14th in 2016 and eighth in 2021.