"A medalist without a medal": South Korea's Kim Min-seop also suffers absurdity... Even running together, only a certificate for the preliminary round [Aichi Nagoya AG]

*This content was translated by AI.

Although they are officially recorded as Asian Games medalists, they do not have a physical medal to wear around their necks. The unusual medal distribution method for the swimming events at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games has sparked controversy.

According to the swimming community on the 25th, in this event's relay race, even if a team reaches the podium, physical medals will be awarded only to the four swimmers who competed in the final round.

Athletes who participated only in the preliminaries are officially registered as medalists, but what they receive is not a medal, but a certificate attesting to their achievement.

Ke Young-eun often sets different rosters for the preliminary and final rounds to manage players' physical condition and expand their participation opportunities. In this tournament, as a result, some athletes who contributed to winning medals with their team were left without receiving physical medals because they did not compete in the finals.

South Korea's swimming representative team member Kim Min-seop was also directly affected.

Kim Min-seop competed as the preliminary swimmer for the team that won a bronze medal in the 800m freestyle relay and a silver medal in the 400m freestyle relay. Although he is officially an Asian Games medalist based on his record, he did not compete in the finals of either event and therefore did not receive a physical medal.

They almost returned home without a single physical medal in hand, despite finishing the competition as medalists.

Fortunately, Kim Min-seob secured a bronze medal in the men's 200-meter butterfly on the final day of the competition, earning a medal he could personally wear around his neck.

However, controversy remains over the policy of awarding only certificates instead of physical medals to Yeongjae in the preliminary round of the Gyeong-yeong event.

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*This content was translated by AI.