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Archery world may crack Korean mystery

World No. 1 male archer, Im Dong-hyun, 18, from South Korea aims for the target during a practice session at the Dekelia archery field in Athens, Greece, on Aug. 10, 2004. PHOTO: AFP

The joke in Olympic archery circles is that a South Korean woman can hit the bull’s-eye even with her eyes closed, while for others the target invariably appears hazy.

No nation has dominated the Olympics as South Korea have since 1988 when team events were added to individual competitions for the first time, raising the number of golds at stake to four.

South Korea’s women have grabbed gold in the team’s section since then, while their men are on the verge of completing a hat-trick, having triumphed in 2000 and 2004.

Korea claimed three of the four golds in each of the last two Olympics, failing to throw up a champion only in the men’s individual event.

“To South Korea, archery is like table tennis to China,” Chinese archery chief Zhou Yuan once said. “They are dominant by large and unmatched worldwide. Most of the world records are handed down from South Koreans.”

“We have no more than 10 top archers in China, but in South Korea the number is more than 70. You can imagine their overall strength,” Zhou said.

Americans and Europeans may have struck gold in the men’s individual event since 1972 when archery reappeared after more than five decades at Munich, but the world is still struggling to crack the Korean women puzzle.

The Korean opponents will need to emulate Italian Marco Galiazzo, who beat Japanese Hiroshi Yamamoto in the men’s final at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

“I kept telling myself no-one is unbeatable,” Galiazzo said after becoming the first Italian to win an Olympic archery gold.

But there seems to be a little hope for women archers as Korea have reigned supreme since Seo Hyang-soon won the gold in 1984. But it was Kim Soo-nyung who ruled for more than a decade.

Kim was a 17-year-old when she won the titles in individual and team events in 1988 and then claimed one more team gold in 1992 apart from a silver in the individual section.

She quit at the age of 21, but returned in 2000 to bag a team gold and a bronze in the individual event. She claimed four golds, one silver and one bronze in her Olympic career.

Kim was to women’s archery what Belgian Hubert van Innis was to the men’s.

The Belgian is the most successful archer in Olympic history as he won six golds and three silvers in 1900 (Paris) and 1920 (Antwerp), but a competitor took part in numerous events in those days.

Archery disappeared from the Olympics after 1920 before reappearing in 1972 with golds at stake only in the men’s and women’s individual sections. The teams events were added in 1988.

Yun Mi-jin kept the Korean tradition alive in the women’s section, winning two golds in Sydney as a 17-year-old before adding one more to her tally in Athens.
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