“More pride instead of pressure”

The world’s strongest women’s archery team from South Korea has dominated the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Ace Im Jae-hyun (21, Korea Gymnastics Team) not only set a new world record, but also an Olympic record in the team event. Her stunning victory over the flagship set the stage for a ‘golden bow’.

Im Jae-hyun, Nam Soo-hyun (19-Suncheon City Government) and Jeon Hoon-young (30-Incheon City Government) competed in the women’s archery ranking round at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Les Issambalides, France, on Aug. 25 (KST).

The Korean ace was at the peak of her powers in the ranking round. With a total score of 694 points, she set a new world record and made world archery history. Her score surpassed the Olympic record of 680 set by Ahn An at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, as well as the world record of 692 set by Kang Chae-young at the World Championships in the Netherlands five years ago.

After the ranking round, Lim signed her name on the scoreboard with her score of 694 and posed for photos.

“It was my first Olympic Games and I was very nervous, but I did my best to prepare, so I played with the mindset of ‘let’s enjoy the game,’” said Im, ”I’m grateful that I was able to show a good performance.”

Nam Soo-hyun also performed well. With a total score of 688 points, she finished the ranking round in second place behind Im. Like Im, she broke the previous Olympic record. It raised expectations for both the individual and team competitions. Jeon Hoon-young had a rough start but gradually picked up the pace to finish 13th with a total of 664 points.

South Korea took first place in the team competition in the ranking round, where the scores of the three athletes are combined, with a total of 2046 points. The score was 12 points better than the previous record of 2032 set by Kang Chae-young, An An and Jang Min-hee at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago. An Olympic record. The team finished 50 points clear of China, which scored 1996 points.

It was the first Olympics for all three members of the women’s team, Lim Im-hyun, Nam Soo-hyun, and Jeon Hoon-young, who were all crowned at the Paris Games. There were concerns about their lack of experience. They had struggled at the World Cup before the actual Games. There was even some speculation that the women’s archery team would not win a bronze medal, let alone gold.

The first day was different. The trio proved them wrong with dominant performances.

“It’s my first Olympics, so I was nervous, but I tried to enjoy it as much as possible and be confident, and I’m glad we got a good result,” said Jeon Hoon-young, the eldest sister.

“It was an honor to set the world record with my older sisters,” said Nam Soo-hyun, the youngest of the team, adding, ”It made me want to trust them and do better in the team competition.”

South Korea’s women’s archery team has been dominating the competition since the ranking rounds, raising its chances of winning the team gold 토토사이트 medal. Having won nine consecutive team gold medals from Seoul 1988 to Tokyo 2020, the team is determined to make it 10 in a row in Paris.

“I have more pride in the fact that Korean archery is strong than pressure (to win 10 consecutive team gold medals),” said Lim, the ace of the world’s strongest women’s archery team.

The Olympic archery event begins with a ranking round of 72 shots per athlete on day one. The ranking rounds will be followed by head-to-head tournaments, with the first-place finisher facing the 64th-ranked archer, the second-place finisher facing the 63rd-ranked archer, and the third-place finisher facing the 62nd-ranked archer.

Korea’s women’s archery team will try to win its first gold medal at the Games in the women’s team tournament on Aug. 28. The individual competition will be held on Aug. 3, with three archers – Lim Im-hyun, Nam Soo-hyun and Jeon Hoon-young – competing.

The results of the ranking rounds also determined who will compete in the mixed team event, where South Korea will look to win their second straight title. The top-ranked Korean players in the men’s and women’s ranking rounds will join forces in the mixed team event. On the women’s side, Lim Im-hyun beat out Nam Soo-hyun and Jeon Hoon-young to earn a spot in the mixed team event.

The mixed team event was introduced at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (2021). South Korea’s Kim An-gim and Kim Jeduk dominated the competition to become the first Korean champions. The Korean archers are among the favorites to win the title again in Paris.

Archery is South Korea’s signature Summer Olympic medal field. From Munich 1972 to Tokyo 2021, South Korea has won 27 of the 45 gold medals in the sport.

The women’s archery team will be looking to extend their record of 10 consecutive team gold medals, which they have not lost since Seoul 1988 until Tokyo 2020. In the individual event, South Korea has won all but one of the 10 Games from Los Angeles 1984 to Tokyo 2008.

South Korea’s prospects in Paris are not all rosy. With soccer, volleyball, and other ball sports all failing to qualify, the country is counting on the traditional patriarchal sport of archery to shine.