Heo Mimi won the women’s 57 kg judo gold medal at the Asian Games held in Nagoya, Japan.
After securing the Korean judo team’s first gold medal in her first Asian Games individual event, she competed as the final athlete in the mixed team event but failed to win a medal.
The two scenes from the same competition left Heo Mimi with both the joy of winning a gold medal and the disappointment of losing in the team event.
3-line summary
1. Heo Mimi is the women’s 57 kg gold medalist
2. She held on to her waza-ari from a shoulder throw early in the final
3. She lost to Uzbekistan in the mixed team event
Reaching the top in the individual event with a shoulder throw in 12 seconds
On October 1, Heo Mimi defeated Mongolia’s Tserbishi Ariunjargal in the women’s 57 kg judo final at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan. She earned a waza-ari with a shoulder throw early in the match and held on to her lead until the end to win the title.
This gold medal was the Korean judo team’s first gold medal of the competition. For Heo Mimi, it was also a victory in her first individual Asian Games appearance. Before the final, she defeated athletes from the Philippines and China by ippon, and in the semifinals, she secured a win by disqualification against Uzbekistan’s Shukurjon Aminova after drawing her opponent’s third shido.
Heo Mimi was born and raised in Japan and, following her grandmother’s dying wish, chose Korean nationality in 2021 and competes as a Korean athlete. She is also the 5th-generation descendant of Heo Seok, a meritorious independence activist. After winning the gold medal, she said that the preparation process had been difficult but that she was happy with the good result.
Competing as the final athlete in the mixed team event
Two days after winning the individual event, on October 3, the Korean team lost 2-4 to Uzbekistan in the mixed team judo bronze-medal match held at the same venue. With the team trailing 2-3, Heo Mimi faced Shukurjon Aminova in the final match.
In the golden-score period, Heo Mimi had received 1 shido, while her opponent had received 2. Aminova then scored a waza-ari with a foot attack, and the Korean coaching staff and Heo Mimi protested, saying that the technique had come after the referee’s “matte” call. However, the referees upheld Heo Mimi’s defeat, and Korea failed to win a medal.
After the match, Heo Mimi expressed sadness, saying that the result could have been different if she had won. She also revealed that she had felt pain during the match because of an injury in which the posterior cruciate ligament in her right knee had ruptured during training. This competition, in which she experienced both an individual-event gold medal and a team-event defeat, also showed the weight of the mixed team event, where the result of 1 match can lead to a medal for the entire national team.
References
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