Lim Si-hyeon wins gold in women's archery individual event for 3rd gold in Paris
Lim Si-hyeon of South Korea competes in the final of the women's archery individual event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris, Aug. 3. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Lim Si-hyeon captured the gold medal in the women's archery individual event at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, beating fellow South Korean Nam Su-hyeon to become the country's first triple gold medalist in France.
In the first all-South Korean final in women's archery in 20 years, Lim defeated Nam 7-3 in the set score at Invalides in Paris.
Lim had earlier won gold medals in the women's team and mixed team events. She became the third athlete overall to win at least three gold medals here, along with French swimmer Leon Marchand, who has bagged four gold medals, and Australian swimmer Mollie O'Callaghan, who has three gold medals.
Lim's was South Korea's ninth gold medal overall at the ongoing Olympics.
A third South Korean archer, Jeon Hun-young, lost to Lisa Barbelin of France 6-4 in the bronze medal match, moments after falling to Lim in the semifinals.
That prevented a third Olympic podium sweep for South Korea in the women's archery individual event. The global archery powerhouse has done it at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Lim Si-hyeon of South Korea celebrates on the podium after winning the gold medal in the women's archery individual event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris, Aug. 3. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
South Korea has won all four gold medals awarded in archery so far, with the men's individual competition scheduled for Sunday as the last remaining event.
In the individual archery matches, each archer takes three arrows per set, and the one with the higher score earns two points for a set win. A tie is worth one point. The objective is to score six points first. If a match is tied after five sets, archers go to a single-arrow shoot-off.
In the final, Lim and Nam each put up a 29 in the opening set to take a point each. Lim then won the second set 29-26, with Nam finding a 7 with her second arrow.
Lim scored a perfect 30 in the next set to build a commanding 5-1 lead. Nam responded with a 30 of her won in the fourth set to beat Lim's 29 and cut the deficit to 5-3.
However, Nam scored a pair of 8s in the fifth set, and Lim sandwiched her 8 with two 10s to clinch the set and the match.
Lim said she tried to enjoy the competition against her teammate in the final.
"We were both going to win a medal either way, so I just wanted to have fun, regardless of the result," Lim said. "I didn't really enjoy myself earlier because of all the expectations and pressure. In this final, I was just trying to do everything I wanted to do. The gold medal just followed."
The mixed team event was added to the Olympic archery program at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, giving archers a chance to win three gold medals at a single competition for the first time. South Korea's An San accomplished that hat trick in Tokyo by winning the women's individual, women's team and mixed team gold medals.
Lim has matched that feat here, and Kim Woo-jin will have a chance to join the club when the late knockout matches for the men's individual event take place on Sunday. (Yonhap)