Female archers the invincible

South Korea’s Chang Hye-jin, left, Choi Mi-sun, center and Ki Bo-bae bite their gold medals during the awards ceremony for the women’s team archery event at the Sambodromo archery range in Rio, Monday (KST). / Yonhap

Korean footballers fight to 3-3 draw against Germany

By Baek Byung-yeul

South Korean women’s archers clinched their eighth consecutive Olympic gold medal after defeating the Russian team in Rio de Janeiro, Monday (KST).

At the Sambodromo archery venue, where the South Korean male archers claimed the country’s first Rio gold medal a day ago, the trio of Chang Hyu-jin, Ki Bo-bae and Choi Mi-sun won the final against the Russian trio of Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, Inna Stepanova and Ksenia Perova by a set score of 5-1. Chinese Taipei won bronze in a match against Italy.

The gold was South Korea’s 21st archery gold medal from 38 Olympic titles contested since the sport returned in its modern format in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Also, the country has swept every gold medal in the women’s team event since it was first contested in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Among the 12 participating countries in the team event, the South Koreans began with top seeding as the trio combined the highest score of 1,998 points in the team competitions two days ago, followed by Russia with 1,938 points and China with 1,933 points.

South Korea advanced to the final after trouncing Japan in the quarterfinals and Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, 5-1 in each match. In the team event, contested in sets, the first team to reach five points wins the match. Comprised of three archers, each archer has two arrows to shoot per set. A winning team is given two points while teams share one point in a draw.

In the final South Korea took four points after winning the first two sets 59-49 and 55-51. The third set ended in a draw after both teams shot 51.

“I’m happy that I got my third medal and I’m very thankful for my teammates,” Ki said after the final. This was Ki’s third Olympic gold medal. The 28-year-old archer won two golds in the women’s individual and team events at the 2012 London Olympics. “This medal was won not just by the team but by everyone who supported us. That is why I cried.”

Revealing her secret for success, she said “when it’s time for me to sleep, I always think about archery. That is how I can stay on top.”

Chang said the taste of the gold medal was like “rainbow colored candy” while Ki described it as her mother’s “kimchi stew.” The 20-year-old archer Choi only answered she is “still hungry.”

On the same day, South Korea added a silver and a bronze in judo and weightlifting.

Following Jeong Bo-kyeong’s silver medal win in the women’s 48 kilogram class judo event a day ago, South Korea added another silver as world No. 1 An Ba-ul lost to Fabio Basile of Italy (No. 26) in the final by an ippon at Carioca Arena 2.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist weightlifter Yoon Jin-hee clinched a medal eight years later by winning bronze in the women’s 53 kilogram event.

She lifted 88 kilograms in snatch and 111 kilograms in clean and jerk for a total of 199 kilograms. Hsu Shu-Ching of Chinese Taipei, who lifted a total of 212 kilograms, won gold while Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines took silver with 200 kilograms.

Yoon’s husband-weightlifter Won Jeong-sik will compete in the men’s 69-kilogram event, Wednesday (KST).

The South Korean men’s football team took a heartbreaking draw in a match against the football powerhouse Germany.

In their second preliminary match, the South Korean team almost seemed to book a spot in the last eight of the tournament with a game to spare, but Serge Gnabry’s 92nd minute free-kick equalizer tied the game 3-3.

South Korea now has one more preliminary match left against Mexico, who defeated Fiji 5-1 a day ago, Thursday.

Swimmer Park Tae-hwan, who failed to reach the final in the men’s 400-meter freestyle a day ago, failed to make it out of the heats for the second straight day in the 200 meters.

While the United States is leading the gold medal count with three gold, five silver and four bronze, South Korea placed fifth in medal standings with two gold, two silver and one bronze.