As the Paris 2024 Olympics begins its medal race in earnest on Nov. 27 (local time), the day after the opening ceremony, many are wondering if the Korean athletes will win their first gold medal on that day.

Korea’s “golden day” at the Games is expected to be from the afternoon of Sept. 29 to the morning of Sept. 30, but the first day of the medal race from Sept. 27 to Sept. 28 will also feature a number of events in which the Koreans could make a run for gold.

With the country fielding its smallest contingent of athletes in 48 years since the 1976 Montreal Games due to a lack of success in team ball games, it will be crucial to set the tone with a medal – or better yet, a gold medal – on day one if it is to reach its target of five or more gold medals.

The biggest name to watch is men’s swimming standout Kim Woo-min (Gangwon-do).

His first event of the Games will be the men’s 400-meter freestyle.

Kim won the 400-meter freestyle at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, in February of this year, and it will be his first individual Olympic event, having only competed as part of a relay team at Tokyo 2021.

Kim’s meteoric rise over the past three years has earned him five qualification slots for the Games, and all eyes will be on him to go for the gold in the opening event of his campaign.

Fencing at the Grand Palais, one of Paris’s most famous venues, is also expected.

On the first day of fencing at the Paris Olympics, Korea will compete in individual events in the men’s sabre and women’s epee, two of its core disciplines.

Oh Sang-wook (Daejeon Metropolitan Government) and Koo Bon-gil (Korea Sports Promotion Organization) will compete in the men’s sabre, and Song Sera (Busan Metropolitan Government) and Kang Young-mi (Gwangju Seo-gu Office) will compete in the women’s epee.

In particular, Oh Sang-wook (2019) and Song Se-ra (2022), who have won the individual World Championships, will lead the way.

The men’s sabre and women’s epee are the favorites to win the team competition, which will take place 30 days after the individual events, and a medal in the individual event will give them momentum for the team competition.

Kim Woo-min will be the first of these athletes to medal.

The men’s 400-meter freestyle final is scheduled for 3:42 a.m. ET on Aug. 28 at the La Défense swimming pool in Paris.

In fencing, the women’s epee bronze medal match will begin at 3:40 a.m., followed by the men’s sabre bronze medal match at 4:05, the women’s epee final at 4:30 and the men’s sabre final at 4:55.

Before the time changes to local time, the first good news could come from the Châteauroux shooting range, 320 kilometers from Paris, in the afternoon on Sunday.

The mixed 10-meter air rifle qualification and final will be held that day, followed by the bronze medal match and final at 5:30 p.m. It will be the first final for a Korean athlete. 안전놀이터