Women's archery team win ninth consecutive gold medal

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Women's archery team win ninth consecutive gold medal

Jang Min-hee, An San and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team celebrate after winning the gold medal match in three straight sets against Russia on Sunday at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Jang Min-hee, An San and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team celebrate after winning the gold medal match in three straight sets against Russia on Sunday at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
The Korean women's archery team took home gold for the ninth consecutive Olympics on Sunday, beating the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) in the final at the Yumenoshima Final Field in Tokyo.
 
Jang Min-hee, An San and Kang Chae-young combined for Korea's second gold medal of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. An was also part of the archery mixed team that won Korea's first gold on Saturday.
 
Korea were on top from the start of the final, outshooting the ROC team of Svetlana Gomboeva, Elena Osipova and Ksenia Perova from the first set. 
 
In the first set Korea shot 55 to the ROC's 54, before pulling further ahead with 56 to the ROC's 53 in the second set and 54 to 51 in the third set.
  
Korea's lowest single arrow score was an eight, while the ROC side shot a seven in the last set.
 
En route to the final, Korea first took down an Italian side of Tatiana Andreoli, Lucilla Boari and Chiara Rebagliati, beating them comfortably 58-54, 56-52, 56-49.
 
In the semifinal Korea faced the Belarussian side of Karyna Dziominskaya, Karyna Kazlouskaya and Hanna Marusava. Korea took the first two sets — 54-52, 57-51 — before tying the third 53-53 for a comfortable win to advance to the final, where the ROC side joined them after defeating Germany in their semifinal.
 
From left to right, An San, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team hold up their gold medals after winning the final match against Russia in three straight sets on Sunday at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

From left to right, An San, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young of the Korean women’s archery team hold up their gold medals after winning the final match against Russia in three straight sets on Sunday at Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

 
For the Korean archers, winning a gold medal at the Olympics is practically a given. Korea has now claimed 25 of the 36 golds awarded in the sport since 1984.
 
The women's team has been especially dominant, winning every gold medal since the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Those nine medals tie the record for the most medals any country has won at consecutive Olympics in a single discipline, alongside the United States in the men's 400 meters swimming and the Kenyan athletics team.
 
The archery team will continue its hunt for gold on Monday at 1:45 p.m. with the men's team quarterfinals where Kim Je-deok, Kim Woo-jin and Oh Jin-hyek will show off their shooting skills.
 
Kim Je-deok will also be chasing his second medal at the Games, having won the mixed event alongside An on Saturday. As the mixed team event is a new addition to the Tokyo Games, their gold medal was not only Korea's first medal of the Olympics, but also the first-ever mixed team Olympic gold medal.
 
Both An and Kim Je-deok are still on track to the become the first archers ever to win three gold medals at a single Games. 
 
An already has two gold medals to her name and will compete in the women's individual tournament this week. An could well go the distance in the women's event as well, having topped the ranking round on Friday with a score of 680, a new Olympic record. Jang and Kang trailed just behind her, both beating the previous Olympic record as well.
 
Kim Je-deok will compete in the men's team event on Monday and then also contest the individual event during the week. He also topped the ranking round on Friday with a score of 688, beating Brady Ellison of the United States, with his teammates Oh and Kim Woo-jin following in third and fourth. 

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]
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