Ha Ji-min, 37, of the Haeundae District Office is a living legend of Korean sailing. Since winning his first gold medal at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games, he has held the top spot in Asia through the 2023 Hangzhou Games with three golds and one silver. Korean sailing also took a silver in the mixed dinghy event, completing what amounted to a day for the sport in Korea.
Sixteen years have passed since his first Asian Games, and he is now approaching 40, but his skills showed no sign of rust at his fifth Asian Games. He overcame the setback of a disqualification in the opening race to reclaim the title after eight years.
Ha finished first with nine points in the men's dinghy medal race at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, held on the 2nd at the Gamagori Kaiyo Yacht Harbor in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was his fourth Asian Games gold and fifth medal overall, and his first gold since the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games.
Ha won three consecutive titles in the single-handed Laser dinghy class at the 2010 Guangzhou, 2014 Incheon and 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Games. At the 2023 Hangzhou Games, however, he settled for silver after the final race was canceled because there was no wind.
The veteran's run to gold was anything but smooth. Dinghy sailing holds nine races in the opening series, which serves as a qualifying round. Penalty points are assigned by finishing position — one point for first, two for second and so on — and the 10 sailors with the lowest totals advance to the medal series. Two races in the final decide the medals. Of the nine races before the final, sailors may discard the penalty points from their worst result.
Ha crossed third in the first qualifying race, but a protest alleging that he had obstructed another sailor's course was upheld after the fact, leaving him disqualified and saddled with a costly 19 penalty points. That meant he burned his only discard on the very first race.
The crisis was where the veteran showed his worth. Drawing on experience, he climbed steadily through the standings in the races that followed without wavering, and finished first overall.
"It was a tough week after being disqualified in the first race," Ha said afterward. "I felt some stress and put pressure on myself." He added: "I didn't know I would compete at another Asian Games, but I believed in my potential. As soon as I was selected for the national team, I dreamed of winning, and I finally did it."
Still competitive despite his age, he has high hopes for the Olympics two years from now. Ha has competed at five straight Summer Olympics, from Beijing in 2008 through Paris in 2024. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics he placed seventh overall in the single-handed Laser dinghy class, becoming the first Korean sailor to crack the top 10.
In the mixed dinghy event the same day, the Korean pair of Kim Chang-ju and Lee Kyung-jin, both of the Yeosu City Hall team, took silver with a total of 20 points, finishing second behind Japan's 15 net penalty points. It was Korea's second straight medal in the event after the bronze won by Kim Ji-a and Cho Sung-min at the 2023 Hangzhou Games.
