A breath of wind, a shaky floorboard or an untimely attack of nerves can all affect the fickle flights of arrows but nothing could stop Ku Bon-chan as he unleashed a ideal volley to drive South Korea to the men’s team gold at the Rio Olympics.
Advertisement
The gold medal team of Kim Woo-Jin, Ku Bon-Chan, and Lee Seung-Yun defeated the US team of Brady Ellison, Zach Garrett, and Jake Kaminski by a score of 2,057 to 2,024.
“Incredible what they did”, said Team USA’s head coach Lee Ki-sik, the mentor of four Korean Olympic teams from 1984-1996. The Koreans held the Olympic title eight years ago but surrendered the gold medal to Italy in London in 2012.
This one wasn’t as close. South Korea won the gold with the score being 6-0.
Jake Kaminski added that using the cumulative scoring that was in place in previous Games, their performance would probably have been a world record.
The Korean powerhouse scored in the 10 range on 15 of its 18 arrows to knock off the Americans, 6-0.
Earlier in the day, the US beat Indonesia 6-2 to advance to a semifinal match against China.
On Sunday, the women take their turn in the team event, with Korea looking for a clean sweep.
Here are seven quick takeaways from Saturday’s men’s team eliminations and finals in Rio…
Ki Sik Lee, head coach of the US team who originates from Korea, said the new Olympic Champions’ performance was “incredible”.
In the Bronze Medal Game, Australia beat China, earning the bronze. When asked what the United States of America could have done differently, he added: “How do I know?” But, this will be the first Olympic medal for Garrett.
Korean standards were unbeatable on Saturday, and there was little surprise when they prevailed after a great season of competition.
Advertisement
Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release.
