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| From left, Korean archers Kim Je-deok, Kim Woo-jin and Oh Jin-hyek celebrate their gold medal after beating Taiwan in the final of the men's archery team event at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo, Monday. Yonhap |
Judoka An Chang-rin adds bronze medal
By Kwak Yeon-soo
There have been highlights as well as letdowns on the third day of competition at the Tokyo Olympics, but two of the highlights were the men's archery team event and medal event in men's judo.
The men's archery team earned the sport's third gold medal Monday, following one from the mixed team event and the women's team, respectively. In addition, Team Korea claimed a bronze medal in judo. However, the fencing squad's woes continued after Kim Ji-yeon, the 2012 Olympic women's sabre gold medalist, crashed out in the round of 16.
As of 9 p.m., Monday, Korea ranked fifth with three gold and four bronze medals, with the U.S. leading the pack with seven gold medals, three silver and four bronze.
The men's archery squad, comprised of Oh Jin-hyek, Kim Woo-jin and Kim Je-deok, defended their Olympic title they won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In the final match at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field, they defeated the Taiwanese team 6-0.
This is Korea's sixth gold in the men's team event out of nine since it was added to the Olympics in 1988.
The team beat Japan in the semifinals in a dramatic shoot-off ― the host country took bronze.
Oh, the 2012 Olympic men's individual archery gold medalist, said winning together as a team felt much better than winning alone. Speaking of Kim, the youngest member on the team, he said, "Every time we had any challenges and difficulties, he (Kim) shot the bull's-eye and got a perfect score. He really lifted our morale."
Kim, who has now become a double gold medalist at the Games, is eyeing a treble as the 17-year-old rookie will compete in the men's individual event, scheduled for Saturday.
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| Jukoda An Chang-rim poses with his bronze medal in the men's under 73-kilogram event at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Monday. Yonhap |
In judo, An Chang-rim took home the bronze medal in the men's under-73-kilogram event after defeating Rustam Orujov of Azerbaijan, for Korea's second medal in the discipline in Tokyo. An Ba-ul claimed bronze in the men's under-66-kilogram event Sunday.
An, who was born in Tokyo to second-generation Japanese-Korean parents, has been representing Korea internationally since 2014. He had been asked to become a naturalized Japanese citizen and represent the neighboring country, but refused to do so.
The 27-year-old competed at the Rio Olympics, but lost in the first round. "I wanted to win an Olympic medal so that I could change perceptions about Korean-Japanese in a positive way," An said. "I hope I can inspire Korean-Japanese children."
Korea's gold medal chase will continue, today, with swimmer Hwang Sun-woo seeking a medal of any color in the men's 200-meter freestyle finals. He qualified for the finals by finishing sixth overall in Monday's semifinals with a time of 1:45:53 at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
He had made it to the semifinals by setting a new Korean record time of 1:44:62. Hwang is the biggest swimming sensation following four-time Olympic medalist Park Tae-hwan, who won gold in the men's 400-meter freestyle in the London Games of 2012.
"I want to keep riding this momentum into the final," Hwang said. "I've worked hard on my starts since coming to Tokyo."
