South Korea takes Olympics baseball gold
South Korea will be the defending Olympic baseball champion for at least 12* years in light of its 3-2 victory over Cuba Saturday night in the Beijing Games final. (*Update: Earlier, we said eight years.)
Cuba and Japan were widely considered to be the favorites prior to the tournament. But the U.S. had to settle for bronze, beating Japan 8-4 on Saturday, and South Korea went undefeated in seven tournament games, handing Cuba (5-2) both of its losses.
Lee Seung-yuop gave his team the lead on a two-run homer in the first inning, and Lee Yong-kyu added a run in the seventh on a double. South Korea become the first unbeaten Olympic baseball champion since Cuba, which went undefeated in 1992 and 1996.
Korean reliever Chong Tae-hyon got Yuliesky Gourriel to ground into a double play with the bases loaded in the ninth, dashing Cuba's hopes for the gold.
Baseball has been dropped from the Olympic Games calendar for at least the next two Summer Games.
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: South Korea's baseball team celebrates after winning the gold-medal game against Cuba at the Beijing Games on Saturday. Credit: Ahmad Yusni/EPA
Wow! Go Korea! I have seen the Koreans progress in so many things. This is just another step.
Posted by: Eddie Payne | August 23, 2008 at 09:50 AM
Wow! Go Korea! I have seen the Koreans progress in so many things. This is just another step.
Posted by: Eddie Payne | August 23, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Congratulations to South Korea! Yay! They deserved the gold, and I am so glad that they won!!! :)
Posted by: Honeybunny | August 23, 2008 at 10:04 AM
monster pitcher ryu, slugger lee, submariner jung... i don't remember all of them, they were phantastic!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: earyoung | August 23, 2008 at 07:44 PM
congratulations Korea!
Korea is doing very very well this year.
We will be seeing a lot more to come from that country
Posted by: David Michaels | August 23, 2008 at 09:08 PM
haha its funny how this site set the rank.im neither chinese or american. but china is the first technically, even tho usa has more number of medals. because china has more "gold medals". you guys are wrong. you can even check on olympic website. http://en.beijing2008.cn/
Posted by: chris+anna | August 24, 2008 at 12:22 AM
This really shows how undervalued Korean baseball has been. Korean baseball league is a gold mine for the U.S. major league owners. Go & Get them before others do. By the way was it worthwhile for the Red Socks to pay the astronomical amount of dollars to the Japanese pitcher?
Posted by: soo choi | August 24, 2008 at 04:55 PM