Forgetting the Pain of Wounds... '11-Member One Team' Wins Gold with Fighting Spirit

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Yesterday, the hands and legs of the women's basketball national team players, who defeated Japan to win the gold medal, were covered in wounds. Praise is pouring in for their "golden rebellion," achieved through a fierce fighting spirit where they spared no effort despite competing with only 11 players—one fewer than other teams—due to the absence of two star players.

Reporter Ha Seong-nyong has the story from Nagoya.

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Before the tournament began, no expert predicted that the women's basketball national team would win the championship.

Park Ji-hyun, the top active guard, left the team after advancing to the U.S. stage, and to make matters worse, premier center Park Ji-su failed to join due to injury. As a result, the national team competed in the tournament with only 11 players, failing to even fill the 12-player roster.

In this desperate situation, the national team pulled off a major upset with smart tactics.

Instead of struggling in a weak paint battle, they dominated the court with fast transitions between offense and defense and sharp outside shooting.

Led by Lee So-hee and Kang Lee-seul, they fired an average of 11.5 three-pointers per game—the most among participating teams—with the highest success rate of 41%. With Lee So-hee averaging 17 points to rank first on the team and fifth overall, and Lee Hae-ran and Kang Lee-seul joining her in the top 7 for scoring, they created a "one team" that did not rely on just one person.

[Kang Lee-seul / Women's Basketball National Team Captain: I think we showed precisely what a "team sport" is all about through this tournament.]

[Lee Hae-ran / Women's Basketball National Team Forward: In my heart, I think all 11 of them are "MVPs".]

The arms and legs of the players, who defeated China and Japan consecutively with a fighting spirit of "one defeating a hundred," were covered in "wounds of glory," but the players forgot the pain in the joy of victory.

[Lee So-hee & Jin An: The gold medal is heavy and great.]

[Kang Lee-seul: (Because the gold medal is so heavy) Ah, my neck hurts so much.]

Head Coach Park Su-ho, who had no prior professional coaching experience but led this "pleasant rebellion" using international competition experience accumulated while coaching age-group youth national teams, expressed hope that this remarkable feat would serve as a stepping stone for the leap of women's basketball.

[Park Su-ho / Women's Basketball National Team Head Coach: I think the base of women's basketball needs to expand a lot more through this occasion. I hope more people will come forward to play basketball.]

We hope that this miraculous gold medal, created as a one team defying everyone's expectations, will serve as a catalyst for the revival of South Korean women's basketball.

(Video Reported by Yoo Dong-hyuk and Park Hyun-cheol | Video Edited by Lee Hong-myung | Design by Jeon Yu-geun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.