*This content was translated by AI.
Lee Sang-hyuk (30, T1), a living legend of the League of Legends (LoL), once again left his name in E-sports history.
Lee Sang-hyuk received the Cheongryong Medal, the first grade of the Sports Medal, at the 2026 New Year's greeting ceremony held at the Cheong Wa Dae Guest House on the 2nd.
President Lee Jae-myung (62) presented medals to 11 national representatives, including Lee Sang-hyuk and Shin Woo-seok, the head of the dolphin gang, with key political and business figures from the Republic of Korea attending.
Until now, the sports medal has been awarded according to the results of international competitions. In the case of Cheongryongjang, the highest grade, the conditions were met only by raising the national status and receiving a cumulative score of 1,500 or more at the Olympics and World Championships.
Therefore, there were many Olympic medalists, including figure skating's Kim Yu-na (36, retired) and archery recurve's Kim Woo-jin (34, Cheongju City Hall). Son Heung-min (34, Los Angeles FC) of soccer also has such a high status that he will only receive it after becoming the top scorer of the English Premier League (EPL) in 2022. Lee Sang-hyuk is the first E-sports player.
It is significant in that it is not a cultural medal, but a sports medal. Similarly, Go, which was not excluded from sports and non-sports debates, was classified as a culture and art field and received a cultural medal. Starting with the introduction of the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games exhibition game, E-sports was adopted as an official event from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games and was recognized as a sports area.
Faker is considered to be a player who has greatly elevated his status. Starting with the silver medal at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, the Hangzhou Asian Games gave the first gold medal in E-sports history.
Last year, he won the first three consecutive league titles in history at the League Off Legends World Championship (LOL World Cup), called LoL's World Cup. In the meantime, Lee Sang-hyuk has played in only one T1 team since his debut in 2013, and has once again left his name in E-sports history with six wins in the LOL World Cup.
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*This content was translated by AI.
