Rio 2016: S. Korea wins gold in women's archery team
South Korea captured the gold medal in women’s archery team competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Sunday. Choi Mi-sun, left, takes aim while Ki Bo-bae awaits. / Yonhap
South Korea captured the gold medal in women's archery team competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Sunday, staying undefeated in the event that became a medal sport in 1988.
The trio of Chang Hye-jin, Choi Mi-sun and Ki Bo-bae beat the Russian team of Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, Inna Stepanova and Ksenia Perova in the final by the set score of 5-1 (59-49, 55-51, 51-51) at Sambodromo.
The Olympic archery team events are contested in sets, with six arrows per team in each set. Winning a set is worth two points, and a draw is good for one point. The first team to reach five points wins.
This was South Korea's second straight archery gold medal in Rio, after the men's team won gold on Saturday. The country is now halfway through an unprecedented sweep in the sport it has long dominated.
South Korea took the first set handily, 59-49. With her third arrow, Perova hit a disastrous 6, while the last three South Korean arrows all hit 10s.
In the second set, Chang and Ki each scored four 10s, while Russia could only manage one 10 to hand the set to South Korea 55-51.
There was an anticlimactic finish to the match, as the South Koreans had to wait for the judges to determine whether Perova's first arrow in the set had hit an 8 or a 9.
If it was ruled a 9, then Russia would have taken the set 52-51 and extended the match. However, it was scored as an 8, meaning the set was tied at 51-51 and South Korea earned the final set point needed to clinch the gold medal.
The final shooters for each team made the difference. Ki, who won both the individual and team gold at the 2012 Olympics, scored four 10s. Perova began her final with a 6 and ended it with a 7, without scoring a single 10.
South Korea has won 21 gold medals in archery, more than any other nation, with the men's and the women's individual events remaining here.
Only two other countries have put together a string of at least eight consecutive gold medals: the United States in the men's 4x100m medley relay, and Kenya in the men's 3000m steeplechase.
Ki, the only returnee from the 2012 Olympic gold medal-winning team, now has three gold medals. With an individual title later in Rio, Ki will equal the women's record held by the South Korean legend Kim Soo-nyung. (Yonhap)