Rio Olympic medal standings as of Monday. / Courtesy of Rio 2016 Olympics Official site



By Park Jae-hyuk

South Korea may lose to Japan in the Olympics medal standings for the first time since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

As of Monday, South Korea was 10th at the Rio Olympics with six gold medals, three silvers and five bronzes.

Japan was eighth with seven golds, four silvers and 16 bronzes.

South Korea topped Japan at the 1988 Seoul Olympics medal standings, for the first time.

South Korea was fourth with 12 golds while Japan was 14th with four golds.

South Korea triumphed over Japan in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Games, winning more golds than Japan.

Losing to Japan at the 2004 Athens Olympics, South Korea soon topped Japan again in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.

But the winning streak seems to be hitting a wall in Rio.

Japan is aiming for seven to eight remaining golds in the women's wrestling, taekwondo, gymnastics and badminton.

South Korea is targeting only five remaining golds in taekwondo, wrestling, badminton and the women's golf.

The host country of the 2020 Tokyo Games is doing its best to beat South Korea this time.