"Honey, What Happened to Your Medals?" Two-Time Champion Wins Two Golds, Leaves Them Behind and Returns With Sake [Nagoya Asian Games]

[Financial News] Lee Gun-hyeok of the national shooting team, who won two titles in shooting at the 2026 Asian Games, successfully fended off his wife's warning that she would 'change the house door code.' However, he left the most important spoils of victory behind in enemy territory. He broke into a sweat in front of his wife, Kim Ye-ji of Imsil County Office, after making the absurd mistake of leaving his gold medals at a hotel in Japan on his way home.
Lee Gun-hyeok returned home through Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 on the 2nd after completing his Asian Games schedule. He won both the team and individual events in the men's 25-meter rapid-fire pistol, completing a sweep and claiming two titles at the Games.
After securing the individual gold medal, Lee Gun-hyeok drew attention by sharing a humorous anecdote involving his wife, Kim Ye-ji, an international star and a shooting silver medalist at Paris 2024. He said, "Before I left, my wife jokingly told me, 'I'll change the house door code if you don't win a gold medal.'" He added, "I thought of my wife and our 16-month-old child during the tense shoot-off. I wanted to return quickly and put the medal around our child's neck."
But a twist awaited him at the arrivals hall. The two gold medals symbolizing his triumphant return were nowhere around Lee Gun-hyeok's neck. While packing his luggage, he made the critical mistake of leaving the medals at his hotel in Japan and boarding his flight home without them.

Kim Ye-ji came to the airport herself to meet her husband. Upon hearing the shocking news that he had left his medals behind, she quipped, "I think he should be punished a little." Lee Gun-hyeok apologized with an embarrassed smile, saying, "I'm sorry I failed to put a proper finishing touch on things after shooting so well." Although he forgot the gold medals, he had brought home sake, a traditional Japanese liquor, in both hands and handed it to his wife, allowing him to pass safely through the front door.
Fortunately, the medals were not lost. According to the Korea Shooting Federation and others, the two gold medals are being safely kept at a hotel in Japan and will soon be returned to Lee Gun-hyeok through a secure channel.
With Kim Ye-ji's Paris 2024 silver-medal sensation followed by her husband's two-title triumph at the Asian Games, the pair have established themselves as Korea's top sharpshooting couple. Now they are setting their sights on an even higher target. The couple said, "We will become the world's best-shooting couple, going beyond Asia," expressing their ambition to compete together at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter