"A Golden Throw—12 Seconds Was All It Took" Huh Mimi's Overwhelming Showtime Made the Asian Stage Seem Small [Nagoya AG]

[Financial News] Barely had the referee signaled the start than Huh Mimi seized her opponent's collar and threw her onto the mat just 12 seconds later. Huh Mimi of the Gyeongbuk Sports Council, a fifth-generation descendant of independence activist Heo Seok, had to swallow her tears after a questionable decision at the Paris Olympics. In the heart of Nagoya, Japan, she ultimately delivered the brightest gold medal to her country.
Huh Mimi defeated Ariunzhaya Tserbish of Mongolia with a waza-ari from a seoi-nage throw in the women's 57-kilogram final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan, on the 1st. She claimed the first precious gold medal won by South Korea's judo team at these Games.
The match was decided in the blink of an eye. Just 12 seconds into the final, Huh Mimi attempted her trademark seoi-nage and cleanly scored a waza-ari, taking complete control from the outset. After scoring early, she tripped her opponent and relentlessly applied ground techniques, refusing to surrender the momentum.

Huh Mimi focused on defense to protect her lead in the second half of the match. She received one shido penalty with just over a minute remaining, but did not waver. Instead, her experience came to the fore. With about 20 seconds left, she launched another surprise seoi-nage attempt and immediately moved into an osaekomi hold-down, skillfully running down the clock to secure a flawless gold-medal victory.
Huh Mimi had no equal on the Asian stage. Before the final, she dispatched Joemari-Heart Rafael of the Philippines in the round of 16 and Tao Wei-ying of China in the quarterfinals with consecutive emphatic ippon wins. In the semifinals, she defeated Shukurjon Aminova of Uzbekistan by a win on penalties, reaching the final without exhausting herself.

Huh Mimi, a Zainichi Korean born to a Korean father and a Japanese mother, left a particularly moving impression with this victory. She gave up her Japanese citizenship in 2021 and began representing South Korea to fulfill her grandmother's last wish: "I want to see you compete as a member of the South Korean national team." Ahead of the Paris Olympics, she also drew widespread attention after it became known that she was the fifth-generation descendant of independence activist Heo Seok, who served time in prison for posting anti-Japanese independence messages during Japan's colonial rule.
At her first Olympic appearance, Huh Mimi lost the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics final to Christa Deguchi of Canada after a disputed shido call and had to settle for silver. But at her first Asian Games, on Japanese soil that carried the promise she made to her grandmother, she finally raised the South Korean flag to the highest place and established herself among the world's true best.
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