POSCO’s 37-year gymnastics sponsorship proves fruitful in Tokyo

South Korean steelmaker POSCO’s long-standing sponsorship of the country’s gymnasts again proved effective at the Tokyo Olympics. The South Korean national gymnastics team recorded the best results ever at the 2020 Olympic Games with Shin Jea-hwan winning gold in men’s vault and Yeo Seo-jeong winning bronze in women’s vault.

Gymnastics, unlike football, baseball, archery or taekwondo, was not a popular sport in South Korea. But with POSCO’s near-ceaseless financial and organizational support since 1985, when it started to chair the Korea Gymnastics Association, Korea has strengthened its presence in the sport at the Olympic stage.

Under POSCO’s leadership, South Korea won its first bronze medal at the Seoul Olympics held in 1988, 28 years after the country’s gymnasts began to participate at the Games. The country had won a total of four silvers and four bronzes until the London Olympics held in 2012, when the legendary gymnast Yang Hak-seon won the first gold.

Sources report that POSCO has sponsored a total of 21 billion won ($18.3 million) to the gymnasts over the last 37 years. The company in 2019 ramped up its annual funding amount to 900 million won ($0.8 million) from the previous 400-800 million won ($0.3-0.7 million).

POSCO said it has also raised the amount of cash incentives given to the Olympic medalists in gymnastics. Prior to the Tokyo Olympic Games, POSCO had announced that it would give out 100 million won ($87,000) for gold medalists, 50 million won ($43,500) for silver and 20 million won ($17,400) for bronze.

But after the gymnastic team’s historic achievement, the company said it will reward 200 million won ($174,000) to the gold medalist Shin Jea-hwan and 70 million won ($60,900) to the bronze medalist Yeo Seo-jeong. Yeo is the first Korean female gymnast to win a medal at the Olympic Games.

Other than gymnastics, POSCO Group has sponsored a number of other non-popular sports in the country. POSCO Engineering & Construction Co. (POSCO E&C) operates professional rugby and gymnastics teams under its name, while POSCO Energy operates a table tennis team. South Korean Olympic rugby team member Jang Seong-min plays at POSCO E&C, whereas the Olympic table tennis player Jeon Ji-hee plays at POSCO Energy.

“POSCO will continue to provide support for the country’s athletes and contribute to the overall development of South Korea’s sports scene,” said a POSCO Group representative.

Write to Jung-hwan Hwang at jung@hankyung.com
Daniel Cho edited this article.