Another Meltdown

South Korean archer Park Kyung-mo reacts after losing to Ukraine's Viktor Ruban 113-112 in the men's individual final at the Beijing Olympics Friday. / Yonhap

Korean Archer Loses Gold on Late Mistake

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

It looked like South Korean archer Park Kyung-mo had the gold in the bag. Then a late blunder had him looking up to Ukraine's Viktor Ruban on the podium.

Park was the latest Korean archery star to fold under pressure in the biggest of moments in Beijing Friday, a day after Park Sung-hyun's late mistakes ended the country's 24-year Olympic gold streak in women's archery.

Unlike the Korean women, who had won every Olympic gold in their sport since the 1984 Los Angeles Games, the men have never won a gold in the individuals despite taking three straight team titles, including their win earlier this week.

The 33-year-old Park Kyung-mo came close to making history, then killed his bid by scoring just an eight on his 11th arrow. Park's 113-112 defeat was a clone of Sung-hyun's 110-109 loss to China's Zhang Juan Juan in the women's final, when she also shot an eight in her next-to-last attempt.

Park didn't seem to take the loss too well, announcing his retirement from the sport after the medal ceremony.

``I always thought the Beijing Games as my last Olympics," he said.

``I will always regret that I have never won an Olympic gold."

Park was the only member of the gold-winning Korean team who gave himself a chance for the podium, with Im Dong-hyun and Lee Chang-hwan failing to reach the quarterfinals.

In the final, Park had a one-point lead by the end of the second end, but Ruban made a late push with his two 10s in the third end.

Ruban took a 103-95 lead after his first two attempts in the fourth end. Then Park missed his chance to retake the lead by shooting the eight.

Ruban scored a 10 with his last arrow, forcing Park to get a perfect score to keep the match alive. Park missed a 10 by a few millimeters.

Park, who first became a national team member in 1993, won a gold in the Hiroshima Asian Games in 1994 and became the first Korean to win the men's individuals at the World Championships in 2006.

Park, whose father died of cancer in June, had pledged to friends that he would bring two Olympic golds to the grave of his father. A silver will have to do for one of them.

``I think about my father a lot," said Park.

``He always dreamed about me becoming an Olympic champion."

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr

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