Paris, France, July 28, 2024: Korea’s women’s archery team won a 10th consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Invalides sunshine on Sunday afternoon – and what skill and resolve they had to show to pull through a series of tough challenges to their crown.
None more so than in the final against China.
After being given a fright by Chinese Taipei in the quarter-finals, the Koreans were taken to a shoot-off by the Netherlands in the semi-finals after the teams had finished tied 4-4 after four sets. Korea came out on top 5-4 to enter the final, where they would be joined by China after they had held off a feisty Mexico 5-3 in the second semi-final.
The final was going very much according to plan for the Korean trio of Jeon Hun-young, Hangzhou Asian Games triple gold medallist Lim Si-hyeon and Nam Su-hyeon as they led the Chinese team of An Qixuan, Li Jiaman and Yang Xiaolei 4-0 by winning the first two sets.
Cheered on by thousands of flag-waving Koreans in the sun-drenched stands, with the Eiffel Tower providing a magnificent setting, the Koreans were on course for a clean sweep – but the Chinese were made of stern stuff and battled back unflinchingly to win the next two sets and pull level at 4-4.
This took the final into another shoot-off, with one arrow each for the three players on both teams, shooting alternately.
Korea shot 9-9-9, with two of the 9s borderline 10s which needed to be examined more closely, while China hit 8-10-9, putting the scores level at 27 with the detailed check to come.
To the relief and delight of the Koreans, both the provisional scores of 9 were upgraded to 10, giving them the set at 29-27 and the match 5-4.
This booked them a place in history, as it meant Korea had extended their winning run in the women’s team competition to 10 Olympic Games going back 36 years to the start of the run at Seoul 1988.
Lim, a three-time Asian Games champion in Hangzhou, China last year, said she was very proud to have maintained this record.
“Over the years the players have changed many times but still we have been able to stay at the top,” Lim said.
“It is very important to stay in first place and we have managed to do this and keep this place in history. Even though other countries have improved, we have always done our best to keep this record going. I don’t know how long it will last, but we will keep trying.”
Earlier in the day, Chinese Taipei beat the United States 5-1 to move into the quarter-finals, as did Indonesia with a 5-3 victory over Malaysia.
In the quarter-finals, India lost 6-0 to the Netherlands, Chinese Taipei went down 6-2 to Korea and the Indonesians were beaten 5-1 by China.
Mexico, who, like Korea, enjoyed huge support from the stands, won the bronze medal by beating the Dutch 6-2.