Heo Mimi won the women’s 57-kilogram judo title at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on October 1, defeating Mongolia’s Tserbish Ariunzaya by waza-ari at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya. The victory delivered South Korea’s first judo gold medal of the Games and ended a 32-year wait for a Korean champion in this weight class.
Heo scored with a seoi-nage just 11 seconds into the final and protected her advantage through the remainder of the four-minute bout. She received a shido for a false attack during the contest but held off Ariunzaya’s late pressure to secure the win. Heo previously competed in the mixed team event at the 2023 Asian Games, but this was her first individual Asian Games medal.
The result carried particular significance because Heo was born and raised in Japan before choosing South Korean citizenship in 2023, following her grandmother’s wish that she compete for Korea. Heo is also the fifth-generation descendant of Heo Seok, an independence activist who was imprisoned after posting anti-Japanese notices in Gyeongbuk in 1918. After the final, Heo embraced coach Jung Sung-sook and wept before standing atop the podium in the country where she was born.