For a long time, Asia has been solidifying its status as one of the most successful continents at major sporting events. But it appears that Asians have truly emerged as world leaders in sports at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where several debuting athletes from across Asia won in events which Europeans and Americans are known to dominate. The Olympics 2024 has produced numerous young record-breakers and champions from Asia who will now be an inspiration for the next generation.
The Olympic Games are the pinnacle of sporting tournaments, where winning a medal can change the trajectory of an athlete’s life. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the quadrennial global sporting extravaganza brings together the finest athletes in the world, including numerous Asian countries.
China, the most successful Asian country at the mega sporting event, has once again proved at the 2024 Paris Olympics that its sportspersons are among the world’s finest. But not behind are South Korea and Japan, whose gold medal tally makes them the top 10 countries at the Paris Olympics.
Several Asians from other countries, including India, Philippines and Uzbekistan, have won medals in the 2024 Olympics. These wins are a testament to their pursuit of excellence, their hours of dedication to their disciplines, rigorous training regimes, and overcoming physical and mental challenges to stand on the podium and be crowned the best in the world.
Whether it is gold, silver or bronze, a medal in the Olympics is a moment of absolute joy. Additionally, many set records that often stand the test of time. Not just the Europeans and Americans, but Asians, too, have set multiple records and achieved many ‘firsts’ at the 2024 Olympics. Some of these incredible achievements came in events where they were not the favourites, which makes their feats all the more outstanding.
Note: This article does not include athletes of Asian descent who have won gold or set records playing for non-Asian countries.
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Significant Asian achievements at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Cheung Ka-long
Country: Hong Kong
Age: 27
Achievement: First from Hong Kong to win two golds at the Olympics; first from Hong Kong to win men’s individual foil twice; first Asian fencer to successfully defend the title.
Cheung Ka-long won his first gold in men’s individual foil at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021). At the time, he was only the second sportsperson from Hong Kong to win a gold at the Olympics.
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At the Paris Olympics, he defeated debutant Olympian Filippo Macchi of Italy 15-14 to win the gold in the event a second time and become Hong Kong’s most successful Olympian.
The extremely close contest underlined why only two men before Cheung had managed to defend their titles in this event in over 100 years. Cheung’s win was also noteworthy for he took the shortest time between two golds — only 1,100 days because of the pandemic delaying the Tokyo Olympics to 2021.
Vivian Kong
Country: Hong Kong
Age: 30
Achievement: First Olympic champion from Hong Kong in women’s individual épée
Three-time Olympian Vivian Kong won the women’s individual épée, defeating France’s Auriane Mallo 13-12. The victory made her the first female fencer from Hong Kong to win any medal and the second woman after windsurfer Lee Lai-shan to secure gold for Hong Kong in Olympic history.
Siobhán Haughey
Country: Hong Kong
Age: 26
Achievement: First from Hong Kong to win four Olympic medals (career)
Siobhán Haughey is Hong Kong’s most decorated Olympian with four medals — two silver and two bronze. She won two bronze medals in swimming in the 2024 Olympics. One of them was in the women’s 100-metre freestyle and the other was in the women’s 200-metre freestyle. It was in these two events she won silver medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Her four medals also mean she is the most decorated Olympian from Hong Kong.
Panipak Wongpattanakit
Country: Thailand
Age: 26
Achievement: First Thai to win consecutive gold; first Thai to win three medals at Olympics; most decorated Thai Olympian
Wongpattanakit won the gold in the Taekwondo women’s 49 kg event (also known as flyweight) defeating China’s Guo Qing 6-3, 2-3, 6-2. It was her second gold in the same event at the Olympics, having won her first in Tokyo. Including her bronze in Rio, it was the third time Wongpattanakit won a medal for Thailand at the Olympics. As such, she is now the most decorated Olympian from her country.
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Quite interestingly, Wongpattanakit won her gold in Paris a day before turning 27. “The best birthday present ever ~ ❤️ 🔥🎂,” she captioned a picture of her kissing the gold medal in a post on Instagram.
Oh Ye-jin
Country: South Korea
Age: 19
Achievement: Olympic record in women’s 10-metre air pistol
This was Oh’s debut Olympic games, and she literally shot her way to glory with a gold in the women’s 10-metre air pistol event. Her score of 243.2 points in the final broke the Olympic record of 240.3 set by Russia’s Vitalina Batsarashkina at the Tokyo Olympics.
It is another matter altogether that instead of Oh, it was her compatriot and silver medallist Kim Ye-ji who went viral around the world for her ultra-cool demeanour. Kim, who is 31, was also making her Olympic debut alongside Oh. She, too, surpassed Batsarashkina’s record to score 241.3 points.
Oh Sang-uk
Country: South Korea
Age: 27
Achievement: First Korean Olympic champion in men’s individual sabre; first Korean fencer to win two golds in a single Olympics
Oh Sang-uk has been widely praised in the Korean media for his dashing looks, but there is a reason he has been nicknamed the “monster.” At 6 feet 4 inches, he is one of the tallest sportspersons in his country. And it is his towering figure that gives Oh an edge over his competitors in fencing’s sabre discipline.
Oh made history for his country when he won the men’s individual sabre, defeating Tunisia’s Farès Ferjani 15-11. It was his second Olympics gold after his Tokyo Olympics win in the team event. Subsequently, Oh made history once more when South Korea defeated Hungary 45-41 in the men’s team sabre in the 2024 Olympics. As such, Oh now has three Olympic medals, all gold — the joint-highest for South Korean fencers along with Gu Bon-gil.
Kim Woo-jin
Country: South Korea
Age: 32
Achievement: Most successful Olympic archer of all time
Kim Woo-jin has etched his name in the annals of Korean sporting history as the greatest Olympic archer of all time with a dominating display in the sport at the 2024 Olympic Games.
He had won gold in the men’s team event at both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In Paris, Kim clinched three gold medals — men’s individual, men’s team and mixed team. As such, he became the only Korean with five Olympic gold medals, surpassing the four gold medals won by his compatriot Kim Soo-Nyung. However, Kim along with shooter Jin Jong-oh are the most decorated Korean Olympians of all time with six medals each.
The last podium of the @Paris2024 Olympic Games. 👏
🥇Kim Woojin
🥈Brady Ellison
🥉Lee Wooseok#ArcheryInParis pic.twitter.com/O5fj1kk5CW— World Archery (@worldarchery) August 4, 2024
Kim’s storied career is a major reason behind South Korea’s absolute dominance in archery in two of the three Olympics, including Paris. This was the second time Korean archers won all events in archery, making a clean sweep. The first time they did so was in Rio in 2016, when they won in all four archery events, including the one in which Kim participated.
Lim Si-hyeon
Country: South Korea
Age: 21
Achievement: Three Olympic records and a world record in archery
With three golds in each of the three events she participated in, Lim was the most successful archer in the women’s categories of the sport in the 2024 Olympics. Ranked world no.1, Lim won the women’s team event with Jeon Hun-young and Nam Su-hyeon. Their total of 2,046 in 216 arrows broke the previous Olympic record of 2,032 set by their compatriots An San, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young in Tokyo. Interestingly, this was the first Olympics for Lim, Jeon and Nam.
Lim then took the gold in the mixed-team event with Kim Woo-jin. Their score of 1,380 in 144 arrows shattered the previous Olympic record of 1,368 set by their compatriots An San and Kim Je-deok in Tokyo.
Lim’s third and final gold in Paris came in the individual event, where she competed against her own teammate Nam Su-hyeon. It was during the ranking round of this event that Lim scored 694 points in 72 arrows to break the 2019 world record of fellow Korean Kang Chae-young by two points.
Ban Hyo-jin
Country: South Korea
Age: 16
Achievement: Youngest South Korean to win gold; two Olympic records in a single event
At age 16 years, 10 months and 18 days, Ban Hyo-jin is the youngest person in her country’s history to win a gold in any event in the Summer Olympics. The record was previously held by archer Yun Young-sook, who was 17 years and 21 days old at the 1988 Seoul Olympics where she won the women’s team gold medal.
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Ban’s medal came in the women’s 10-metre air rifle, in which she dramatically defeated 17-year-old Huang Yuting of China in a shoot-off, 10.4-10.3, after both ended up tied at 251.8 points, following their allotted 24 shots.
The 251.8 points that Ban and Huang scored helped them equal the Olympic record set by China’s Yang Qian at the finals of the Tokyo Olympics. But Ban also set another Olympic record during the qualification rounds of the event by scoring 634.5 points, breaking the record of Norway’s Jeanette Hegg Duestad set in Tokyo.
Yuto Horigome
Country: Japan
Age: 25
Achievement: First skateboarder to win two Olympic golds
Skateboarding is a new event at the Olympics, having made its debut in Tokyo in the previous edition. Nevertheless, Yuto became the first from Japan to win two golds in the sport. His first was in Tokyo in the men’s street skateboarding event, making him the first person to win in the category. He successfully defended his title at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Though Japan is the leading nation that has won eight medals in total in skateboarding in the two Olympics, Yuto is still the only one to have won two medals.
Kano Koki
Country: Japan
Age: 26
Achievement: First Japanese Olympic champion in men’s individual épée
Gymnast-turned-fencer Kano first scripted history when Japan won the men’s team épée event at the Tokyo Olympics. He was part of a four-member team alongside Kazuyasu Minobe, Masaru Yamada and Satoru Uyama. It was Japan’s first gold medal in any fencing category at the Olympics. Kano had also participated in the men’s individual épée in Tokyo but was eliminated in the round of 16.
In Paris, however, he defeated Yannick Borel of France 15-9 in their men’s individual épée encounter to once again script history for his country by becoming the first Japanese to win gold in any individual fencing event. He won his second medal at the 2024 Olympics, a silver, in the men’s team épée event alongside Minobe, Yamada and Akira Komata, who replaced Satoru Uyama.
Manu Bhaker
Country: India
Age: 22
Achievement: First Indian to win two Olympic medals in a single edition
Manu Bhaker won two bronze medals in shooting in the 2024 Olympics. Her first came in the women’s 10-metre air pistol event. She won her second with Sarabjot Singh in the mixed team 10-metre air pistol event.
Her first bronze made her the first Indian woman to win a medal in shooting at the Olympics. The second was even bigger: it catapulted her to historic status as Bhaker became the first Indian to win two medals at the Olympic games since India’s independence.
Indian media reports that she is technically also the first ethnic Indian to win two medals at the Olympics in the history of the games. This is because Norman Pritchard, who won two medals at the 1900 Olympics, was a British-Indian who competed under the flag of British India during the colonial era.
Yeldos Smetov
Country: Kazakhstan
Age: 31
Achievement: First Kazakh Olympic champion in judo
Smetov defeated Luka Mkheidze of France in the men’s 60 kg event to pick his country’s first gold in judo. The Kazakh judoka had previously won two Olympic medals — a silver in Rio and a bronze in Tokyo.
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Interestingly, Mkheidze had shared the podium with Smetov for the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Following his Rio silver, the Kazakhstan government issued a commemorative stamp in his honour.
Pan Zhanle
Country: China
Age: 19
Achievement: First Chinese swimmer to win men’s 100-metre freestyle; member of the first Chinese team to win gold in men’s 4×100-metre medley relay
Pan Zhanle set multiple records in swimming at the 2024 Olympics. He obliterated his own world record of 46.80 seconds set at the Doha World Aquatics Championships in February 2024 to take the gold in Paris with a stunning time of 46.40 seconds. He was more than a second ahead of silver medallist Australian Kyle Chalmers, underlining the astonishing speed at which Pan swam. Romania’s David Popovici finished with the bronze. His margin of victory of 1.08 seconds over Chalmers was the largest since the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
He won his second gold in the men’s 4 x 100 metre medley relay with Xu Jiayu, Qin Haiyang, Sun Jiajun, and Wang Changhao. This was the first time that the US was defeated in the event since it was introduced in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Pan swam in the anchor leg, or last in his team. When he jumped in, China was in third place. Pan’s stellar speed of 45.92 seconds was enough for China to overtake both the US and France.
Zheng Qinwen
Country: China
Age: 21
Achievement: First Chinese to win a tennis singles gold in Olympic history
Zheng defeated Croatia’s Donna Vekić 6-2, 6-3 in the women’s singles event to take the gold in the widely watched contest at Roland Garros’s Court Philippe Chatrier. It was also China’s second Olympic tennis gold; the first having been won by Li Ting and Sun Tiantian in women’s doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
In the semi-finals, Zheng defeated World No.1 Iga Świątek of Poland to become the first Chinese player ever to secure a spot on the Olympic podium in the event. Thus, she had already scripted history for her country even before the gold-medal match.
Carlos Yulo
Country: Philippines
Age: 24
Achievement: Most successful Filipino Olympian; first Filipino to win any medal in gymnastics
Carlos Yulo created history for his country in Paris when he won the gold in the men’s floor artistic gymnastics. His score of 15 put him ahead of silver medallist Israel’s Artem Dolgopyat and bronze winner Jake Jarman of Great Britain. It was not only Yulo’s first medal in the Olympics, but it was also the first gold for a male Filipino sportsperson and the first medal of any colour in gymnastics for the Philippines.
HE’S DONE IT AGAIN! 🇵🇭
Carlos Yulo is a two-time Olympic champion! Two golds in two days! 🥇🥇 pic.twitter.com/iZHuQrDv2o— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) August 4, 2024
But Yulo was not done. He then went on to win the men’s vault artistic gymnastics event. His score of 15.116 was more than 0.1 point of second-placed Artur Davtyan of Armenia. Harry Hepworth of Great Britain took the bronze in the event. With two golds, Yulo became the most successful Filipino Olympian of all time.
Diyora Keldiyorova
Country: Uzbekistan
Age: 26
Achievement: First Uzbek Olympic champion in judo and first female judo medallist from her country
Keldiyorova competed in the women’s 52-kg category (also known as half-lightweight), where she defeated Kosovo’s Distria Krasniqi to clinch the gold medal. But even before becoming the champion, Keldiyorova achieved the remarkable feat of defeating four-time world champion and Tokyo Olympics champion Uta Abe of Japan in the preliminaries of the category. It was widely headlined as one of the biggest upsets of the 2024 Olympics.
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin
Country: Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
Ages: 28 (Lee), 29 (Wang)
Achievement: First pair in badminton history to win men’s doubles twice
The men’s doubles in badminton was the only event in the sport where no one had won the gold medal twice. But Lee and Wang, with their incredible performances in back-to-back Olympics, eventually entered the record books. They defeated Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang of China 21-17, 18-21, 21-19 for the gold.
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(Hero image: @siobhanhaughey01/Instagram; Featured image: @cheungkalonghk/Facebook)
This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Yes, Hong Kong has won two medals in swimming at the Paris Olympics. Both were bronze and both were won by Siobhán Haughey in the women's events.
Yes, there were many notable firsts for Asian athletes in Paris. Among them were Hong Kong's Cheung Ka-long and Vivian Kong. While Cheung became the first from Hong Kong to win two Olympic gold medals, Kong became the first from the special administrative region to win the women's individual épée.
Hong Kong sent 35 athletes to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
