Archer wins historic gold for S. Korean title sweep; boxer claims bronze
Kim Woo-jin of South Korea poses with his gold medal won in the men's individual archery event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris, Aug. 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
South Korea completed a historic sweep of archery gold medals at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, with Kim Woo-jin finishing the job by winning the men's individual title.
Kim defeated Brady Ellison of the United States in a shoot-off after the two had been tied at 5-5 after five sets. Both archers hit a 10 in the single-arrow shoot-off, but Kim's was ruled to have been closer to the center by 4.9 millimeters.
South Korea became the first nation to capture five archery gold medals at a single Olympics by winning the men's individual, men's team, women's individual, women's team and mixed team titles.
With his fifth career gold, Kim now has won more gold medals than any South Korean Olympian, summer or winter.
Lee Woo-seok of South Korea competes in the bronze medal match of the men's individual archery event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris on Aug. 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Kim joined fellow archer Lim Si-hyeon as South Korea's two triple gold medalists in Paris.
South Korea has so far collected 10 gold medals — five from archery, three form shooting and two from fencing. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee had initially set out to win five gold medals here.
South Korea is now three gold medals from matching its record for most at a Summer Games. It won 13 at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
With 24 medals overall — seven silvers and seven bronzes on top of the 10 gold medals — South Korea has already surpassed its totals from each of the past two Summer Games: 20 at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 21 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Im Ae-ji of South Korea reacts to her loss to Hatice Akbas of Turkiye in the semifinals of the women's 54-kilogram boxing event at the Paris Olympics at North Paris Arena in Paris, Aug. 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Kim defeated his teammate Lee Woo-seok in the semifinals before capturing the gold. Lee later beat Florian Unruh of Germany to take home the bronze medal.
The day's second bronze for South Korea came from boxing, where Im Ae-ji took third place following her loss to Hatice Akbas of Turkiye in the semifinals of the women's 54-kilogram event.
With no third-place fights in Olympic boxing, losers of the two semifinal bouts are each awarded a bronze medal.
Im's bronze is South Korea's first Olympic medal in women's boxing, and its first in the sport since Han Soon-chul won silver in the men's 60kg event in 2012.
In badminton on Sunday, An Se-young, the world's top-ranked female player, reached the women's singles final with a 2-1 (11-21, 21-13, 21-16) win over Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia.
An will face He Bingjiao of China in the final on Monday.
South Korea failed to win a medal at a third consecutive men's golf tournament, with Tom Kim finishing alone in eighth place at 13-under 271 at Le Golf National, south of Paris.
Kim ended up six shots behind the gold medalist, Scottie Scheffler of the United States. (Yonhap)