11,000 Athletes From 201 Countries Competing in 28 Disciplines


By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
The day of the Olympics’ homecoming arrived as the 28th Summer Games opened in Athens, Greece on Friday night, where the first modern Olympics were held in 1896, for 17 days of competition in 28 disciplines.

About 11,000 athletes from 201 countries, all the members of the International Olympic Committee, will compete for a total of 301 gold medals. For the first time in the modern history of the Games, all the medallists will be crowned with laurels made from olive branches just as in the ancient Olympics. Before Athens, only the winners of the men’s and women’s marathon received laurels.

The opening ceremony was held Friday night at the Olympic Main Stadium in the Greek capital. The opening celebration was performed under the concept of Greek mythology as an epic and after that, delegates from all the participating countries marched into the stadium with host Greece being first and last as the founding country and host.

The two Koreas, with female volleyballer Ku Min-jung from the South and former basketball player Kim Sung-ho from the North bearing the unification flag, were the 84th delegation to make their entry.

A total of 8,000 performer volunteers and 2,000 artistic and technical support volunteers took part in the gala ceremony. While following most of the standards, the ceremony set new ground by adding some contemporary spice with Dutch DJ Tiesto performing various dance beats for almost 90 minutes.

The Olympics swing into full competition from today, including South Korean athletes in 16 disciplines. (All dates and times below are according to Korean Standard Time.)

Today’s curtain-raisers for the South Korean gold contention are shooters Seo Sun-hwa and Cho Eun-young in the women’s air rifle starting at 5 p.m., and judoka Choi Min-ho in men’s -60kg class starting from 22:30.

Seo and Cho are determined to be the first gold medallist at this Olympics, following Yeo Kap-soon in the same discipline at the 1992 Barcelona Games, while Choi is looking to top the podium by getting past two-time Olympic champion Tadahiro Nomura of Japan.

Lee Sang-do and Jin Jong-oh in men’s 10-meter air pistol and Ye Gue-rin in the women’s judo -48kg class are preparing for surprises on the same day as well. Fencer Oh Eun-seok is ready to display his underdog capacity in the men’s individual sabre event while in team sports, the women’s basketball squad meet China in their first preliminary match while the men’s handball team square off with Spain.

On Sunday, Bang Gwi-man in the -66kg class takes to the judo mat for another gold quest with Lee Eun-hee in the women’s -52kg class. The women’s volleyball team face Italy and the football squad look to get their first win over Mexico after a 2-2 draw with Greece on Thursday.

Han Song-hee in the women’s cycling road race and Ahn Soo-kyeong and Park Ah-young in the women’s air pistol also go on Sunday while tennis players Lee Hyung-taik and Cho Yoon-jeong meet Mariano Zabaleta of Argentina and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia in the first round.

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr