North Korea at the 2004 Summer Olympics

North Korea competed as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's seventh appearance at the Olympics since its debut in 1972. North Korean athletes did not attend the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, when they joined the Soviet boycott, and subsequently, led a boycott at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, along with six other nations.

North Korea at the
2004 Summer Olympics
IOC codePRK
NOCOlympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea
in Athens
Competitors36 in 9 sports
Flag bearer Kim Song-Ho (official)
Medals
Ranked 57th
Gold
0
Silver
4
Bronze
1
Total
5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Korean Unification Flag

Olympic Committee of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea sent a total of 36 athletes, 13 men and 23 women, to compete only in 9 sports. For the second time in Olympic history, North Korea was represented by more female than male athletes due to its stark team size of women in diving and artistic gymnastics. Former basketball player and National Olympic Committee official Kim Song-Ho became the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony.[1][2] Both North Korea and South Korea marched together in the Parade of Nations at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies under the Korean Unification Flag, a white flag showing the united Korean peninsula in blue. They had two flagbearers carrying the flag together at each occasion, one representing the North and the other representing the South. The female athletes and staff wore red blazers, while their male counterparts wore blue. Although they marched together, the teams competed separately and had separate medal tallies.[3]

North Korea left Athens with a total of five Olympic medals (four silver and one bronze), failing to claim a single gold for the second consecutive time since Sydney.[4] All of these medals were awarded to the athletes in boxing, judo, shooting, table tennis, and weightlifting. Lightweight judoka Kye Sun-Hui managed to complete a full set of medals in her illustrious sporting career with a silver, in addition to her gold in Atlanta and bronze in Sydney.[5]

Medalists

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Medal Name Sport Event Date
  Silver Kye Sun-hui Judo Women's 57 kg August 16
  Silver Ri Song-hui Weightlifting Women's 58 kg August 16
  Silver Kim Hyang-mi Table tennis Women's singles August 22
  Silver Kim Song-guk Boxing Featherweight August 28
  Bronze Kim Jong-su Shooting Men's 50 m pistol August 17

Athletics

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North Korean athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard).[6][7]

Key
  • Note–Ranks given for track events are within the athlete's heat only
  • Q = Qualified for the next round
  • q = Qualified for the next round as a fastest loser or, in field events, by position without achieving the qualifying target
  • NR = National record
  • N/A = Round not applicable for the event
  • Bye = Athlete not required to compete in round
Men
Athlete Event Final
Result Rank
Jong Myong-chol Marathon 2:19:47 35
Women
Athlete Event Final
Result Rank
Ham Bong-sil Marathon DNF
Jo Bun-hui 2:55:54 56
Jong Yong-ok 2:37:52 21

Boxing

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Kim Song-Guk was a surprise finalist in the featherweight class, beating the European bronze medalist in the second round and the All-Africa Games silver medalist in the quarters before edging World runner-up and European champion Vitali Tajbert in the semifinals. In the final, Tichtchenko pulled out into an early lead over Kim and never looked back, easily taking victory and leaving Kim to the silver medal.

Athlete Event Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Kwak Hyok-ju Light flyweight   Ali (IRQ)
L 7–21
Did not advance
Kim Song-guk Featherweight Bye   Kupatadze (GEO)
W 25–14
  Ganiyu (NGR)
W 32–11
  Tajbert (GER)
W 29–24
  Tishchenko (RUS)
L 17–39
 

Diving

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North Korean divers qualified for four individual spots in the following events.

Men
Athlete Event Preliminaries Semifinals Final
Points Rank Points Rank Points Rank
Choe Hyong-gil 10 m platform 419.58 16 Q 600.36 15 Did not advance
Pak Yong-ryong 414.33 17 Q 596.01 17 Did not advance
Women
Athlete Event Preliminaries Semifinals Final
Points Rank Points Rank Points Rank
Jon Hyon-ju 10 m platform 272.01 22 Did not advance
Kim Kyong-ju 263.52 25 Did not advance

Gymnastics

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Artistic

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Men
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Apparatus Total Rank Apparatus Total Rank
F PH R V PB HB F PH R V PB HB
Kim Hyon-il Pommel horse 9.112 9.112 56 Did not advance
Parallel bars 9.537 9.537 35 Did not advance
Ri Jong-song Floor 9.675 9.675 14 Did not advance
Vault 9.162 9.162 62 Did not advance
Women
Team
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Apparatus Total Rank Apparatus Total Rank
V UB BB F V UB BB F
Han Jong-ok Team 9.537 8.000 Did not advance
Hong Su-jong 9.075 9.200 8.212 8.475 34.962 50
Kang Yun-mi 9.637 Q 8.850
Kim Un-jong 9.125 9.475 8.412 9.050 36.062 36
Pyon Kwang-sun 9.200 9.600 Q 9.062 8.650 36.512 23 Q
Ri Hae-yon 8.762 8.862 8.600 8.687 34.911 52
Total 37.037 37.812 34.286 35.237 144.372 12
Individual finals
Athlete Event Apparatus Total Rank
F V UB BB
Kang Yun-mi Vault 9.381 9.381 5
Pyon Kwang-sun All-around 8.525 9.587 8.850 8.900 35.862 17
Uneven bars 9.600 9.600 4

Judo

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Six North Korean judoka (one man and five women) qualified for the following events.

Men
Athlete Event Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Repechage 1 Repechage 2 Repechage 3 Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Pak Nam-chol −60 kg   Lounifi (TUN)
L 0001–1000
Did not advance
Women
Athlete Event Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Repechage 1 Repechage 2 Repechage 3 Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
Ri Kyong-ok −48 kg   Yıldız (TUR)
L 0021–0111
Did not advance
Ri Sang-sim −52 kg   Yokosawa (JPN)
L 0000–1000
Did not advance   Diédhiou (SEN)
W 0020–0000
  Singleton (GBR)
L 0010–0011
Did not advance
Kye Sun-hui −57 kg   Bezzina (MLT)
W 1010–0000
  Yukhareva (RUS)
W 0031–0010
  Cox (GBR)
W 1010–0010
  Lupetey (CUB)
W 1000–0000
Bye   Bönisch (GER)
L 0010–0011
 
Hong Ok-song −63 kg   Scapin (ITA)
W 0001–0000
  Moller (RSA)
W 1000–0000
  Heill (AUT)
L 0010–0100
Did not advance Bye   Rousey (USA)
W 0010–0001
  González (CUB)
L 0000–1010
Did not advance
Kim Ryon-mi −70 kg Bye   Moreira (ANG)
W 1010–0000
  Arlove (AUS)
L 0100–1000
Did not advance Bye   Pažoutová (CZE)
W 0100–0011
  Jacques (BEL)
L 0030–0110
Did not advance

Shooting

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Three North Korean shooters (two men and one woman) qualified to compete in the following events:

Men
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Points Rank Points Rank
Kim Hyon-ung 10 m air pistol 583 =4 Q 682 6
25 m rapid fire pistol 572 16 Did not advance
50 m pistol 553 =18 Did not advance
Kim Jong-su 10 m air pistol 582 =6 Q 681.2 8
50 m pistol 564 =3 Q 657.7  
Women
Athlete Event Qualification Final
Points Rank Points Rank
Ri Hyon-ok Skeet 68 (2) 7 Did not advance

Table tennis

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Four North Korean table tennis players qualified for the following events.

Athlete Event Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
O Il Men's singles   Luyindula (COD)
W 4–0
  Leung C Y (HKG)
L 1–4
Did not advance
Kim Hyang-mi Women's singles Bye   Fazekas (HUN)
W 4–1
  Steff (ROM)
W 4–2
  Niu Jf (CHN)
W 4–0
  Zhang Xl (SIN)
W 4–2
  Li Jw (SIN)
W 4–3
  Zhang Yn (CHN)
L 0–4
 
Kim Hyon-hui Bye   Jing Jh (SIN)
W 4–2
  Tie Y N (HKG)
L 0–4
Did not advance
Kim Yun-mi Bye   Offiong (NGR)
W 4–1
  Wang N (HKG)
L 2–4
Did not advance
Kim Hyang-mi
Kim Hyon-hui
Women's doubles Bye   C Li /
K Li (NZL)
W 4–1
  Lee E-S /
Seok E-M (KOR)
L 1–4
Did not advance

Weightlifting

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Four North Korean weightlifters qualified for the following events:

Athlete Event Snatch Clean & Jerk Total Rank
Result Rank Result Rank
Im Yong-su Men's −62 kg 140 =2 170 DNF 140 DNF
Choe Un-sim Women's −48 kg 82.5 =4 95 =10 177.5 8
Pak Hyon-suk Women's −58 kg 95 =6 122.5 =5 217.5 6
Ri Song-hui 102.5 =2 130 =1 232.5  

Wrestling

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Key
  • VT - Victory by Fall.
  • PP - Decision by Points - the loser with technical points.
  • PO - Decision by Points - the loser without technical points.
Men's freestyle
Athlete Event Elimination Pool Quarterfinal Semifinal Final / BM
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Opposition
Result
Rank
O Song-nam −55 kg   Kardanov (GRE)
L 1–3 PP
  Berberyan (ARM)
W 3–1 PP
  Doğan (TUR)
W 5–0 VB
2 Did not advance 8

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Crumpacker, John (14 August 2004). "Athens Games: Opening Ceremonies / Flame lights a Greek revival". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  2. ^ "Asian Games organizers ask IOC to bring in NKorea". Associated Press. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  3. ^ "North and South Korea to march together at Olympic opening ceremony". Pravda. 7 February 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  4. ^ "2004 Athens: Medal Tally". USA Today. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  5. ^ "Kye Sun Hui pinned high hope to win gold at Olympics for DPRK". Xinhua. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on August 14, 2008. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  6. ^ "iaaf.org – Top Lists". IAAF. Retrieved June 4, 2011.
  7. ^ "IAAF Games of the XXX Olympiad – Athens 2004 Entry Standards". IAAF. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
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