The Republic of Korea dominated the Beijing 2008 Archery competition by winning the Team gold medals, three Individual medals and setting five Olympic and one world record at the Olympic Green Archery Field.
Women’s Team
The ROK women won their sixth consecutive Olympic Team gold medal on Sunday, August 10. Park Sung-hyun led the way in the Ranking Round, matching the 72-arrow Olympic record with a score of 673 points. Park Sung-hyun’s teammates, Yun Ok-hee shot 667 and Joo Hyun-jung shot 664. The ROK’s combined score of 2,004 broke the 216-arrow Olympic record by 10 points.
In the Team 1/4 Elimination Round, the ROK women set the 24-arrow Olympic and world record, shooting a score of 231 out of a possible 240 points in their match against Italy. The ROK easily defeated France in the semifinals, 213-184. ROK went on to beat China handily in the gold medal final, 224-215.
In the bronze medal match, France needed seven points to win with one arrow remaining. Sophie Dodemont withstood the pressure to score an eight and led France to victory over Great Britain with a final score of 203-201.
Men’s Team
The ROK men won their third consecutive and fourth overall Olympic Team gold medal on Monday, August 11. The ROK trio of Park Kyung-mo, Im Dong-hyun and Lee Chang-hwan met pre-Olympic expectations in the Ranking Round by shooting the highest combined team score of 2,015 points. Park Kyung-mo led the ROK men with 676 points.
The Men’s Team medal round was defined by nail-biting matches that came down to the very last arrow. In the gold medal match, ROK and Italy were tied going into the last three arrows when Mauro Nespoli shot a seven, handing the gold medal and the 24-arrow Olympic record to ROK, 227-225.
In the bronze medal match, Ukraine was unable to defend the Team bronze they won at Athens 2004. Against the crowd favorite China, Ukraine climbed back from a six point deficit at the halfway point, only to lose to China on the last arrow, 222-219. The Chinese men’s bronze medal was remarkable because they entered the Elimination rounds in last place (12th).
Women’s Individual
Zhang Juanjuan of China broke ROK’s 24-year stranglehold on the Women’s Individual event, claiming the gold medal with the last arrow in a riveting final against the defending Olympic champion, Park Sung-hyun, 110-109 on Thursday, August 14.
The No. 27 seed, Zhang had to beat all three top-seeded ROK women to win the Olympic title. In the quarterfinal, Zhang beat Joo 106-101. In the semifinals, Zhang took out the world No. 1 Yun, 115-109. Zhang’s score of 115 equaled the Olympic record Park Sung-hyun set earlier in the day.
Yun went on to defeat Kwon Un Sil from the Democratic Republic of Korea, 109-106, to take the bronze medal.
Khatuna Lorig of the United States was fifth, Hayakawa Nami of Japan sixth, Joo seventh and the youngest archer in the competition, 14-year-old Mariana Avitia of Mexico was eighth. The reigning world champion, Natalia Valeeva of Italy, finished 19th.
Men’s Individual
In a tightly-contested gold medal match, the No. 3 seed Viktor Ruban of Ukraine defeated the No. 4 seed Park Kyung-mo, 113-112, on the very last arrow, on Friday, August 15.
Ruban was lucky to have been in the gold medal match having barely made it through the semifinals. To shoot in the gold medal match, Ruban had to break a 112-112 tie with Bair Badenov of Russia in a two-arrow shoot off.
In the bronze medal match, the No. 31 seed Badenov defeated the No. 1 seed, Juan Rene Serrano of Mexico, 110-105.
Cuba’s Juan Carlos Stevens was fifth, Moriya Ryuichi of Japan sixth, Victor Wunderle of the United States seventh and Cheng Chu Sian of Malaysia eighth. The 2004 Olympic champion, Marco Galiazzo of Italy finished 22nd.
(Source: en.beijing2008.cn)
