Popular Sports

Koreans also competed well among the top athletes in the Olympics as well as in other major international events, such as baseball, golf, archery, shooting, table tennis, ski jump, short-track speed skating, figure skating and swimming.Recently, Korean baseball stars have begun to make a name for themselves in American and Japanese leagues. In golf, Korea has recently produced many world-class players. In particular, professional female golfers such as Pak Se-ri, and Kim Mi-hyun distinguished themselves by winning several LPGA or Women's U.S. Open titles. Choi Kyung-ju charged his way to win two PGA titles in 2002 alone.

In tennis, Lee Hyung-taik became the first Korean man ever to win a major international event when he won the Addidas International tournament held in Sydney, Australia, in January 2003.Two young Koreans have made names for themselves and their country in swimming and figure skating. Park Tae-hwan won three gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha where he set two new Asian records.

He also medaled twice in the 2007 World Aquatic Championships in Sydney, taking gold in the 400m freestyle and bronze in the 200m freestyle. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Park won the gold medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle, becoming the first Korean gold medalist in swimming. He also won silver n the men's 200-meter free style competition.Kim Yu-Na, bronze medalist for 2007 and 2008 in the World Figure Skating Championships, won the 2007 Cup of Russia with the highest score ever awarded in the International Skating Union judging system for long program. The same year, she also won the Cup of China.In addition, domestic sports leagues, such as the Korea Professional Football League (K-League), Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), Korean Basketball League (KBL) and Korean Volleyball League (V-League), continue to entertain fans, who flock to stadiums to watch their favorite teams.