Haesan at the Olympics

Haesan at the IDU Olympiad
IOC code	HAE
NOC	Olympic Committee of Haesan
Website	olympicshaesan.hn
Medals	Gold 10 Silver 8 Bronze 4 Total 22
IDU Olympiad appearances
2023

The Commonwealth of Haesan first participated in the Olympics at Hanshui '23.

2023 Hanshui Olympics

241 Haesanite athletes competed in Hanshui, in all 113 events across 25 disciplines. Haesan's flag bearers for the Opening Ceremony on May 22nd were Jang Su-mi (women's archery & team archery) and Jacques Tessier (men's curling & mixed doubles curling). Their highest medal earners were fencer Oh Da-yeon by points with two golds and Brent van Norberg by number with a gold and two bronzes, given the joint honor of being the flagbearers for the closing ceremony on June 8th.

On May 22, 2023, Jang Su-mi won a gold medal in Women's Archery, Haesan's first ever medal at an IDU Olympiad, and the nation's first gold.

Boycott Threat

After the announcement on March 23, 2023 that Hanshui would be the host of the 2023 IDU Olympiad, the van Deventer government threatened a boycott of the Olympic Games. While Laeral and Haesan have maintained a historical rivalry dating back centuries, tensions have been especially high since the 1963 annexation of Soeyan Province by Laeralite forces during the Great War. As such, the Chamber of Deputies threatened to withhold funding from the Olympic team and boycott the Hanshui games unless concessions were made regarding the return of the province into Haesanite custody. Despite the expected boycott, throughout the month of April, Olympic trials were held for Haesan's allotted spots in Munseong, Namhae and Altina, Southern Maritimes, with trials for winter events being held in Sanri, Maehwa and surrounding resort cities. On April 20th, ahead of a key budget vote, the Liberty! led government dissolved, and a caretaker Chamber of the Commonwealth government was established. As a result, President Kim I-seul became de facto head of government, and as a proponent of Plum Blossom Diplomacy who seeks to ameliorate Haesan-Laeral relations, over the following days she entered into a dialogue with the Laeralian government about Haesan's participation in the games. On May 1st, Haesan officially accepted the Olympic Committee's invitation to compete in the 2023 Olympiad. Despite small protests across the western portions of the country, the move was widely applauded.

Expectations

Haesan had registered one of the largest team rosters to compete in Hanshui, with many teams expected to be particularly strong, especially in the national sports of archery and curling, as well as in table tennis, sailing, and baseball. Domestic media largely focused on the geopolitical implications of the games, as well as the possibility of possible Haesan-Laeral bilateral talks emerging as a result of the games. Suyang based media company Hesperida Sports Network predicted Haesan to win the overall medal count, albeit losing the gold medal tally and points race, coming as a shock to many sports commentators. Exemplifying this is the comments of Alexandra Yoo of SBS Sports' morning show "Today's Sports Briefing" who stated that "This projection was beyond our wildest expectations. While of course I hope we will perform to this standard, a handful of golds is all we really can hope for." The projection turbocharged interest in the Olympics, with searches for "Haesan Olympics" on search engine Chatgi increasing over ten-fold from the day prior.

Opening Ceremony Controversy

During the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, Laeral presented a historical presentation which was poorly regarded in Haesan due to its depictions of René Gramont and Laeral's involvement in the Great War. President Kim I-seul was in attendance and after the event cancelled intended meetings the next day and returned to Hwagang early. Later, the Office of the President of Haesan issued a formal condemnation of the display. The incident led to the cancellation of a number of bilateral talks between Haesan and Laeral about trade, science and technology collaboration, and quelling violent guerrilla groups in Soeyan Province.

Results

After a triumphant day one gold medal from archer Jang Su-mi, the Haesanite team entered a long five day medal drought in which it severely underperformed across the board. After Haesan's top-ranked baseball team lost to Libertas Omnium Maximus in the quarterfinals with an overall 4-3 record, coach Yoon Dong-hyeon was sacked. A similar event occurred on May 30th, when Haesan fired its men's handball coach Kim Jae-hwan after their number two rated team failed to make it out of the group stage. Around the 27th of May, many sports pundits in Haesan were panicking about the team's total collapse, with many blaming the team's failures on the psychological pressure of playing on their rival's home turf.

However, the last days of May marked a major turning point for the team as strong results in bobsleigh, equestrian, and sailing helped restore the team's confidence and elevated its position in the standings. A strong performance in fencing on the 31st of May resolidified Haesan's position as a real contender, and a near sweep of curling on June 1st helped calm the nerves of many who feared that Haesan was slipping in its premier national sports.

Another small drought in the first week of June ended Haesan's hopes of an Olympic victory, but the heroics of skier Brent van Norberg stunned the nation unused to winning in those events and helped distract public attention from other underperformances. Tied for 6th before the last day, Haesan needed medals in table tennis and ski jumping in order to rise in the standings, which it received through clutch performances from takgu player Min Yu-na in both individual and team events and a surprising gold medal and massive Olympic record from van Norberg in the men's ski jump.

Haesan's 50 points from 22 medals ranks it fourth in the IDU, tied with Grundhavn for third but just losing out on the tiebreak of number of gold medals. Haesan also finished third in the gold medal tally with 10, tied with Laeral but ahead on the tiebreak of the number of silver medals. While this result was an underperformance from the prediction from HSN, it was widely regarded as a highly successful first Olympics campaign, especially given that Haesan managed to top its rivals Laeral in the standings despite the Laeralites hosting the games.

Cultural Influence and Legacy

Due to the heroics of Brent van Norberg during the games, registration in ski camps and expenditure on skiing equipment in Haesan has greatly increased. It is also expected that tourism to the ski resorts in Haesan's mountainous provinces will increase sharply during the 2024 winter season.

The baseball coach hired to replace Yoon Dong-hyeon after his failure at the games implemented a deep philosophical shift which led to women playing on the Haesanite national team for the first time. That move led to unprecedented interest in girl's baseball and the Haesanite Women's National League, as well as the promotion of female players across the Haesanite baseball system.

The serious failures of the Haesanite team in target sports like aquatics and gymnastics has led the Haesanite government to implement wide ranging programs to improve youth development and expand their talent recruitment pipelines for those sports.

2023 Hanshui Olympic Medalists

Haesan had 50 medalists across 22 disciplines of 10 sports. Skier Brent van Norberg won three medals in this Olympics, becoming the first athlete to accomplish that feat in the history of the games. Haesan also had 5 other athletes win two medals.

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Alpine Skiing	0	0	2	2
Archery	1	0	0	1
Bobsleigh	1	1	0	2
Curling	2	1	0	3
Equestrian	1	1	0	2
Fencing	2	3	0	5
Handball	0	0	1	1
Sailing	1	1	0	2
Ski Jumping	1	0	0	1
Table Tennis	1	1	1	3
Total	10	8	4	22

Medal	Athlete	Sport	Event	Date	Score/Time
Gold	Jang Su-mi	Archery	Women's Individual	22 May	724 (OR)
Gold	Colette Moulin, Jeon Ha-yeon, Veronique Giraud, Yoon Ju-ha	Bobsleigh	Women's 4 Person	28 May	53.15 (OR)
Gold	Rebecca Adera	Sailing	Women's Windsurfing	28 May	5-1-1 (7)
Gold	Kim Yeon-ji on Force Majeure	Equestrian	Individual Dressage	29 May	84.12 (OR)
Gold	Oh Da-yeon	Fencing	Women's Individual Sabre	31 May	1st
Gold	Baek Jeong-hu, Adam Marshall, Oh Da-yeon, Heo Se-in	Fencing	Team Sabre	31 May	1st
Gold	Madeleine Collet, Sonia Lefort, Lee Seo-hui, Park Ga-ram	Curling	Women's Team	1 June	1st
Gold	Elodie Fontaine, Jacques Tessier	Curling	Mixed Doubles	1 June	1st
Gold	Min Yu-na	Table Tennis	Women's Singles	8 June	1st
Gold	Brent van Norberg	Ski Jumping	Men's Ski Jumping	8 June	159.6 (OR)
Silver	Olivier Le Roux, Jean-Pierre Royer, Xavier Maillard, Mohammed Khan	Bobsleigh	Men's 4 Person	28 May	51.53
Silver	Allan Lefebvre	Sailing	Men's Windsurfing	28 May	3-4-1 (8)
Silver	Choi Ye-sol on Interstate Commerce	Equestrian	Individual Jumping	29 May	80.54
Silver	Maxime Lagrange	Fencing	Men's Individual Foil	31 May	2nd
Silver	Maxime Lagrange, Marcel Perrin, Kim Yu-jin, Park Eun-byeol	Fencing	Team Foil	31 May	2nd
Silver	Baek Jeong-hu	Fencing	Men's Individual Sabre	31 May	2nd
Silver	Jacques Tessier, Yann Depuis, Gerard Brun, Kim Su-ho	Curling	Men's Team	1 June	2nd
Silver	Min Yu-na, Choi Da-som, Ophelie Pasquier	Table Tennis	Women's Team	8 June	2nd
Bronze	Haesan Comets	Handball	Women's Handball	30 May	3rd
Bronze	Brent van Norberg	Alpine Skiing	Men's Combined	4 June	2:03.46
Bronze	Brent van Norberg	Alpine Skiing	Men's Slalom	5 June	1:42.25
Bronze	Amir Saiss	Table Tennis	Men's Singles	8 June	3rd

List of Competitors

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Alpine Skiing & Ski Jump	2	2	4
Archery	2	1	3
Athletics	3	2	5
Baseball & Softball	24	15	39
Basketball	12	12	24
Biathlon	2	2	4
Bobsleigh	4	4	8
Curling	4	5	9
Cycling	2	2	4
Diving	1	1	2
Equestrian	0	2	2
Fencing	6	6	12
Figure Skating	2	1	3
Gymnastics	2	2	4
Handball	15	15	30
Ice Hockey	25	23	48
Luge	2	2	4
Sailing	3	3	6
Speed Skating	4	4	8
Surfing	1	1	2
Swimming	5	3	8
Table Tennis	3	3	6
Tennis	2	2	4
Triathlon	1	1	2
Water Polo	12	12	24
Total	127	114	241