"No Medals, and Print the Certificates Yourself?" ... South Korean Swimming in Uproar—Even Korea's National Sports Festival Is Better Than This [Nagoya AG]

[Financial News] Why on earth were the Asian Games held if this was how they were going to be run?
The fruits of national team athletes' lifelong sacrifices and sweat have been reduced to targets for cost-cutting. The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organizing Committee has sparked international outrage with an unprecedented farce: it withheld physical medals from medalists who competed in team-event preliminaries and told them to print their certificates themselves from digital files.
This astonishing fact came to light immediately after the men's 200-meter butterfly final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo, Japan, on the 25th. Kim Min-seop of Gyeongbuk Sports Council, who won a valuable bronze medal, made a pointed remark during an interview. He said, "The national team won medals in two team events earlier, but I was very disappointed to hear that swimmers who competed in the preliminaries would not receive medals. Still, I'm glad I won a medal in the individual event today and can put a physical medal around my parents' necks."
Kim Min-seop had earlier competed in the preliminaries of both the men's 4x100-meter relay, which won silver, and the 4x200-meter relay, which won bronze, cutting through the water in a devoted effort. Although official records clearly recognized him as a silver- and bronze-medalist, he was left without a single physical medal after the ceremony simply because he had not competed in the finals.

Even reporters covering the event were bewildered by this absurd situation, unprecedented at a major international competition.
According to confirmation obtained through Korea Aquatics (KAQ), a notice from the organizing committee that was hard to believe was prominently posted in the athletes' area.

The notice stated, "Medals are awarded only at the medal ceremony held after the final, and no medals are awarded in the preliminary rounds." Regarding the distribution of certificates, it added, "Certificates will be provided as digital files and sent to each team's representative after the Games end."
"No physical medals or certificates will be distributed at the venue," the notice stated unequivocally. It was the height of petty administration: the athletes were left with nothing more than the title of official medalist while the organizers sought to save even the cost of producing commemorative medals and printing paper certificates.

The athletes and the federation were furious. A Korea Aquatics official said, "At the Olympics and World Championships, not to mention Korea's National Sports Festival, every swimmer who competes in team-event preliminaries receives the same physical medal," shaking their head at the organizing committee's misguided policy.
Veteran national team swimmer An Se-hyeon of Jeju City Hall also condemned the decision, saying, "I have attended countless international competitions, but this is the first time I've seen anything like it. The swimmers in the preliminaries and the finals worked equally hard and shed the same blood and sweat, so from an athlete's perspective, it is deeply unfair to award medals only to those who competed in the final."
From the early stages of its bid, the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games promoted themselves as "low-cost and eco-friendly" while drastically cutting the budget.
Yet, following major fiascos involving accommodation and transportation, the event is now toying even with the "medal"—the very reason the Asian Games exist and their defining symbol.
Faced with this devastating reality—an insult to athletes' sweat in exchange for saving a few pennies—sports fans around the world are directing pointed questions at the organizers.
"If this is how it's going to be, why hold the Asian Games at all?"

[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter