Swimmer Park Tae-hwan Monday threatened to flee the South Korean squad to return home, sources said.
Park, a silver medalist at the London Olympics, made the remarks after the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) was reported to have told London Olympic medalists to delay their homecoming and participate in an event to commemorate Korean War veterans scheduled for Thursday.
Park, who booked a flight on Tuesday, said that he was exhausted following months of practices and the games themselves, but the committee insisted that he remain.
Under an agreement struck between Park and the KOC, the medalist will return home Friday, the sources said.
On Aug. 4, the team of Gu Bon-gil, Kim Jung-hwan, Won Woo-young and Oh Eun-seok captured the gold medal in men's sabre team event. South Korea beat Romania 45-26.
When asked if he knew that it was South Korea’s 100th Olympic gold medal, Gu said he was aware of it when he saw a writing on the Internet before the final.
The country's first Summer Olympics under its own flag was the 1948 London Olympics. It has since competed in 14 Summer Games before this year's Olympics and 15 Winter Games.
After capturing the gold medal on Aug. 2, female sabre fencer Kim Ji-yeon said she thought she was crazy. She said it was like winning the coveted Lotto lottery.
Kim beat Sofya Velikaya of Russia 15-9 to become the country's first Olympic sabre champion, male or female.
After grabbing gold in the women's 25-meter pistol event on Aug. 1, teenage shooter Kim Jang-mi said he wanted to go to a beauty parlor to have her hair cut before the victory ceremony.
At the Royal Artillery Barracks, Kim fired 792.4 points, adding 201.4 points in the final to her Olympic-record qualification score of 591. Chen Ying of China, the 2008 Olympic champion, won silver with 791.4 points, followed by Olena Kostevych of Ukraine at 788.6 points.
North Korean weightlifter Om Yun-chol, who took gold with a remarkable world record-equalling clean and jerk on Aug. 1, said he owes his success to great leaders, Kim Jong-un and his late father Kim Jong-il.