Archer wins historic gold for S. Korean title sweep; boxer claims bronze

Kim Woo-jin of South Korea poses with his gold medal won in the men's individual archery event at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris, Aug. 4. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

South Korea completed a historic sweep of archery gold medals at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, with Kim Woo-jin finishing the job by winning the men’s individual title.

Kim defeated Brady Ellison of the United States in a shoot-off after the two had been tied at 5-5 after five sets. Both archers hit a 10 in the single-arrow shoot-off, but Kim’s was ruled to have been closer to the center by 4.9 millimeters.

South Korea became the first nation to capture five archery gold medals at a single Olympics by winning the men’s individual, men’s team, women’s individual, women’s team and mixed team titles.

With his fifth career gold, Kim now has won 한국을 more gold medals than any South Korean Olympian, summer or winter.

Kim joined fellow archer Lim Si-hyeon as South Korea’s two triple gold medalists in Paris.

South Korea has so far collected 10 gold medals — five from archery, three form shooting and two from fencing. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee had initially set out to win five gold medals here.

South Korea is now three gold medals from matching its record for most at a Summer Games. It won 13 at both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

With 24 medals overall — seven silvers and seven bronzes on top of the 10 gold medals — South Korea has already surpassed its totals from each of the past two Summer Games: 20 at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 21 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

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