The South Korean women’s epee fencing team will be chasing two rabbits Tuesday at the Paris Olympics: their second straight medal and a measure of redemption.
Choi In-jeong, Kang Young-mi, Song Se-ra and Lee Hye-in have been brought back as a team for Paris, with Choi coming out of retirement to rejoin her three teammates following their run to the silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Kang, Song and Lee each competed in the individual event Saturday, but they were all eliminated early without sniffing a medal. Kang and Lee both lost their first matches, in the round of 32, while Song, the only Korean ranked inside the top 10 at world No. 7, was gone in the round of 16.
Song was so crushed with her defeat that she was reduced to tears afterward. But she vowed she would cry tears of joy after the team event, which is set to begin with the quarterfinals at 2:20 p.m. Tuesday at Grand Palais in the French capital.
South Korea will take on the home team France, led by the individual silver medalist from Saturday, Auriane Mallo.
In the swimming pool at Paris La Defense Arena, the men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay team will compete in the heats, where they will try to be among the top eight teams bound for the final.
The team will feature two world champions, Kim Woo-min (400m freestyle) and Hwang Sun-woo (200m freestyle). South Korea has never won a relay swimming medal in Olympic Games.
Also Tuesday, judoka Lee Joon-hwan will be in action in the men’s -81 kilograms. Dubbed the “Korean Lightning” by the International Judo 스포츠 Federation thanks to his speed, Lee has two world championships bronze medals to his name and will be going for his first Olympic medal at Champ-de-Mars Arena in Paris.