The year 2014 saw two major international sports events. South Korea saw both great achievements as well as disappointments in the Sochi Winter Olympics and the Incheon Asian Games.

South Korea sent to the Sochi Winter Olympics 71 athletes, the largest ever Korean delegation to the Winter Games.

In the winter Olympics, South Korea won a total of three gold medals, three silver and two bronze medals to rank 13th in the overall medal tally. The result fell short of the initial target to rank within the top ten for the third straight time and to secure more than four gold medals.

Speed skater Lee Sang-hwa won gold in the women’s 500 meter event while Park Seung-hi secured a gold medal in the women's one-thousand meters. Park also grabbed another gold medal together with Cho Ha-ri, Kim Alang and Shim Suk-hee in the women’s three-thousand-meter relay.

Star figure skater Kim Yu-na won a silver medal in the ladies’ singles finals. Some international media had reported that Kim was dethroned in her last competition by Russia's Adelina Sotnikova who won a controversial title despite an error in one of her combination jumps.

However, South Korean athletes showed better performances in events that had received little attention in the past such as curling and skeleton, raising hopes for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.

In the Incheon Asian Games that took place in fall, South Korea ranked second in the overall medal tally after securing 79 gold medals.

South Korea won the nation’s first Asiad gold in men’s football in 28 years after beating North Korea 1-0 in the most widely anticipated event for Koreans at the Incheon Asian Games.

South Korea’s Son Yeon-jae, on her part, won the nation’s first gold in the individual all-around rhythmic gymnastics at the Asiad.

Also during the Asiad, South Korea claimed its first gold in both women’s basketball and women’s volleyball in 20 years.

Though it failed to grab any medals in track and field events, new South Korean records were posted in men’s 110 meter hurdles and 16-hundred meter relay events. In women’s pole vault, South Korea’s Lim Eun-ji won a bronze medal.

1. The Sinking of the Sewol Ferry & Special Sewol Law

2. Dissolution of Unified Progressive Party

3. June 4 Local Elections & July 30 By-elections

4. President Park Geun-hye’s Summit Diplomacy

5. UN General Assembly Passes New Resolution on N. Korea’s Human Rights, UN Security Council Places It on Its Agenda

6. S. Korea Expands “Economic Territory”

7. S. Korea Sees Trade Volume Surpass $1 Tln in Record Time

8. Shooting Rampage at GOP and Military Reform

9. Pope Francis Visits South Korea

10. Sochi Winter Olympics & The Incheon Asian Games