Seoul, Korea, February 14, 2024: London 2012 Olympic champion Ki Bo-bae announced her retirement from competition at a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, February 14.
The 35-year-old Ki, who picked up a bow in 1997 and won three gold medals and one bronze at the Olympic Games, said: “After 27 years of competing as an athlete, I am now ready to return to my daily life.”
Ki ends her career as one of the most successful and popular archers of the modern era.
Famous for winning two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics, in the individual and women's team events, she returned for a second Olympics at Rio 2016 where she collected a third gold with the still-unbeaten Korean women’s team and a bronze in the individual.
After becoming a mother in 2018 and completing a doctorate in education in 2022, Ki made a surprise return to the Korean national squad last season. That would prove to be her final stint in the iconic white uniform.
“I have always looked forward and moved forward but now that I am about to put down my bowstring, it doesn’t feel real,” she said. “I firmly believe that the space I leave will be reliably filled by the next generation.”
She was asked for the advice she would give to the archers selected to represent Korea at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, for which she will work as a commentator for national broadcaster KBS, a role she has filled in the past
“In Paris, we’re trying to win 10 consecutive team events. I won numbers seven and eight. The pressure and burden were incredibly heavy,” she said.
“Seeing our juniors competing in last year’s Asian Games, I was convinced that a new history would be written in Paris if we prepared well. I will support, silently, from behind.”
(World Archery)