"Worst Ever" Mess Until the End… Jeers Erupt in the End

[Anchor]

This tournament has been tainted by such sloppy and amateurish management that it is hard to believe it was hosted by a leading global nation. An absurd incident occurred during the awards ceremony where our football team should have been enjoying the thrill of victory: the South Korean national flag, the Taegeukgi, was not properly hoisted.

Continuing our coverage, here is reporter Lee Seonghun.

[Reporter]

As the men's national football team, having achieved four consecutive titles, stood at the top of the podium singing the national anthem and filled with emotion, the Taegeukgi—which should have been raised the highest—was nowhere to be seen.

The staff members, seemingly failing to conduct proper rehearsals, flustered and struggled to raise the flag. While our players wore bewildered expressions, the spectators directed jeers at the organizers.

From immigration procedures, meals, lodging, transportation, laundry, to training ground provisions, the organizers failed to execute even the most basic operations of an international event. After drawing fierce criticism from athletes and press across Asia throughout the tournament, it ended up marred by an unacceptable incident right down to the very final moment.

[Yu Seungmin / President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee : I think this is probably the tournament where we sent the most letters of protest and lodged the most complaints with the organizing committee. I suppose it has served as a sort of stimulus for us to better prepare for upcoming world-class events in the future.]

Having worked as a sports reporter for 27 years, I have covered five Olympics, three World Cups, and five Asian Games on-site.

Yet, there has never been a case with as many operational disruptions as this one.

What is even more astonishing is the attitude of the organizers.

Until the middle of the tournament, the organizing committee consistently avoided mentioning the operational mishaps or offered detached explanations shifting the blame to third-party contractors. Even at today's (October 4) wrap-up press conference, they self-praise-sang the event as "the greatest tournament ever."

Japan sent second- and third-tier players instead of its top athletes to most events at this home tournament, self-devaluing the prestige of the event and ultimately bringing about a record-worst box office slump.

To restore the declining prestige of the Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) is pushing to postpone the upcoming Doha Games by a year to 2031—just before the 2032 Brisbane Olympics—and link the events to Olympic qualification spots. However, whether it will be able to fully recover the tournament's plummeting status remains uncertain.

(Video by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Park Jung-sam | Design by Kim Min-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.