South Korea continues to dominate in the women’s archery team event at the Olympics.
The South Korean team beat China to win the gold medal on Sunday, marking their 10th consecutive victory in the event. South Korea has won the women’s team archery event since it was introduced in 1988, but the match has never been as close as this one.
The Korean team faced off in a shoot-off against the Chinese team, who had previously had to settle for silver medals five times in a row, and won by a narrow margin.
The gold medal archery match came down to a single arrow and then an arrow so close to the border between nine and ten that someone had to come out and take a magnifying glass. pic.twitter.com/vzc7Pbal8D
— Roger Sherman (@rodger) July 28, 2024
A shoot-off was necessary after the teams were tied at 2-2 after the first four sets. South Korea won the fifth set with 29 points and China with 27 to secure a 5-4 victory.
However, the victory was narrow.
The judges had to look closely twice to see whether the winners received 10 or 9 points. With the help of a magnifying glass, the higher point amount was awarded twice, allowing Jung Hoon-yong, Lim Si-hyun and Nam Su-hyun to continue their country’s gold medal streak.
“I’m very happy to have earned this place in Korean archery history,” Si-hyeon said after the thrilling final. “Even if other countries advance, we will try our best to defend our place.”
For the past 40 years, South Korea has done just that – this time by a small margin.
