Artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong on Aug. 1 hugs her coach Lee Jung-sik after clinching the bronze medal in the women's vault at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in the Japanese capital. (Yonhap News)

By Jung Joori and Lee Hana

Team Korea last weekend brought home medals more precious than gold at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Artistic gymnast Yeo Seo-jeong on Aug. 1 won her nation's first Olympic medal for women's gymnastics.

In the women's vault event at Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo, she earned the bronze by scoring 15.333 points in her first vault and 14.133 in her second for an average score of 14.733. Rebeca Andrade of Brazil won the event with 15.083 and Mykayla Skinner of the U.S. was runner-up with 14.916.

Yeo's bronze was Korea's tenth Olympic medal in gymnastics. The nation's last medal in the event was won by Yang Hak-seon, who won gold in the men's vault at the 2012 London Olympics.

Yeo's father, Yeo Hong-chul, was a silver medalist in the men's vault at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, making them Korea's first father-daughter team to earn Olympic medals in gymnastics. 

In women's fencing, Korea on July 31 won its first medal in the sabre team competition. Kim Ji-yeon, Yoon Ji-su, Choi Soo-yeon and Seo Ji-yeon rallied to beat Italy, 45-42, for the bronze at Makuhari Messe Hall in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba.

On July 30, An San won the women's archery individual event to become the country's first triple gold medalist both in a Summer Olympics and her sport.

In volleyball, the women's national team on July 31 pulled off a 3-2 victory over Japan in the preliminary round for Pool A at Ariake Arena in Tokyo, securing a spot in the quarterfinals.

etoilejr@korea.kr