 Jin Jong-oh celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's 50-meter pistol shooting competition at the Beijing Olympic Games, Tuesday. / Korea Times |
Staff Reporter
Shooter Jin Jong-oh won a gold medal in the men's 50-meter pistol Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.
Jin held off a late charge by North Korean marksman Kim Jong-su to win by 0.2 points in the final round at Shooting Range Hall.
The win gave South Korea its fifth gold of the Summer Games.
Jin, who will turn 29 next month, won an Olympic title in his fourth attempt. In his previous attempts, he claimed second in the 50-meter pistol and fourth in the 10-meter air pistol at the 2004 Athens Olympics and earned a silver in the 10-meter air pistol Saturday in Beijing.
The gold medal also gave South Korea its first Olympic title in shooting since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where Yeo Kab-soon took the gold in the women's 10-meter air rifle and Lee Eun-chul won the men's 50-meter rifle prone.
Park Tae-hwan swam to a silver medal in the men's 200-meter freestyle as record-chasing Michael Phelps of the United States captured his third gold in Beijing.
In what was billed as the ``race for second,'' Park, the 400-meter freestyle gold medallist, touched the pad in 1 minute, 44.85 seconds, setting a new Asian record and improving the time of 1:45.99 he swam in the semifinals. Phelps, however, set his second individual world record of these Olympics to go with a world record on a relay team.
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Bischof sent the 23-year-old Kim to the mat with a foot sweep for yuko.
Kim, the 2008 Asian champion, looked tired after winning two straight overtime bouts to reach the finals.
His silver was Korea's third judo medal of the Beijing Olympics.
South Korean women are cruising in their bid to give the country its seventh straight Olympic gold medal in women's individual archery.
Park Sung-hyun, Yun Ok-hee and Joo Hyun-jung, who won gold in the team event Sunday, won all of their individual matches in Tuesday's elimination rounds.
Park, the individual gold medallist at the 2004 Athens Games, defeated Anja Hitzler of Germany 112-107 in the round of 32, while Yun won 114-107 against Canadian Marie-Pier Beaudet.
Joo had the toughest draw against third-ranked Natalia Valeeva of Italy but got past the 2007 world champion 110-108.
The three Koreans will compete in the round of 16 Thursday.
Wrestler Jung Ji-hyun failed to repeat as an Olympic champion in the men's 60-kilogram Greco-Roman tournament, bowing out in the quarterfinals. Russia's Islam-Beka Albiev won the gold, while Azerbaijan's Vitaliy Rahimov took the silver.
Jung's compatriot Park Eun-chul took the bronze in the men's 55-kilogram competition.
The men's gymnastics team finished fifth in the team competition.
South Korea's handball squad edged European champion Denmark 31-30 in a preliminary match for Group B.
In shooting, Jin, a native of Gangwon Province, began the final two points behind China's Tan Zongliang, who had 565 points.
Jin's first shot of the finals scored 10.3 to give him a small lead against Tan, who scored 7.9.
Jin still led by 1.9 points with one shot remaining.
Four years ago, the South Korean shooter was leading the competition in the same event after six shots, but his seventh hit a 6.9 mark, causing him to concede the lead to eventual gold medallist Mikhail Nestruev of Russia.
Jin committed a similar blunder on Monday, when he scored 8.2 on his last shot, which quieted South Korean fans in the stands. But Tan scored 9.2 and Ukraine's Oleg Omelchuk, who was in third at that time, shot a nine, allowing Jin to maintain the top spot.
North Korea's Kim finished second, while Tan had to settle for bronze.
``I don't know what happened, but when I looked back and saw a few smiling faces, I realized I had done it,'' Jin said
``I went in with a lot of confidence because I had come in second in Athens, but I still had to shoot my best. It was a close call, but at least it went in my favor.''
In swimming, Park reacted the fastest to the buzzer, but it was Phelps who took the control after remaining under water longer and farther than any other competitor.
He extended his lead during the second lap.
Park moved to second at the 100-meter mark and in the final 50 meters, fended off another American, Peter Vanderkaay, who surged right behind Park down the stretch.
ksw@koreatimes.co.kr
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