“We prepared in more detail”, said Kim Woo-jin, who in Friday’s ranking round broke the 72-arrow individual world record with a score of 700 (out of a possible 720).
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The trio of Ki Bo-bae, Choi Mi-sun and Chang Hye-jin were unflappable on a windy day at the Sambodromo, shooting brilliantly to rout their opponents 5-1 and send Korean fans in the terraces into raptures.
The USA scored 56 of a possible 60 points, Korea had 59 – shooting another three consecutive flawless 10s to close out the match and take archery’s first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Kim’s enthusiasm may have been tempered by the knowledge that Im failed to win the individual gold after setting his world mark with the Olympic recurve bow at London.
Lee’s immediate mission is to convert the team’s London silver into Rio gold, to beat South Korea, if necessary, and to keep archery’s hard-won profile alive in his adopted nation.
The U.S. won silver for the second straight Olympics.
“That was a world-record performance that they put on”.
Men’s team champions Italy have 2004 individual victor Marco Galiazzo in their ranks once again, while the Chinese women’s team will bid to end 12 years of heartbreak after finishing second to the Koreans at the last three Olympics.
Australia celebrated its first archery medal in 12 years by defeating China in the bronze medal playoff.
It was nonetheless an inspired bout of shooting at the climax of the session, with Kim needing to hit the innermost gold circle for a maximum 10 points on his last arrow to seal the record. “That really helped me in the matches today and that is why I got good results”.
South Korea beat Japan and Taiwan before facing Russian Federation in the final.
Guided by South Korean coach Lee Ki-Sik, the United States were also very steady as they beat Indonesia 6-2 in the quarterfinal and eased past China 6-0 in the semifinal. There’s a team competition Saturday, and his focus was on medals, not records.
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Having watched Italy win the team title in London which Korea had previously held from 2000-2008, this triumvirate of archers had been tasked with regaining the title, and they did just that. He scored 228 points in those two contests and seemingly wasn’t fazed by the pressure of competing on his first Olympic stage. “I think one and two would have been switched”, said Kaminski. “I never thought the Koreans could shoot that great”.
