Women-archer

From Seoul.com

Women Archers Win Gold Again

South Korean women archers Joo Hyun-jun, left, Yun Ok-hee, center, and Park Sung-hyun pose during the victory ceremony after winning a gold in the women's team competition at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing, Sunday.

/ Korea Times

By Kang Seung-woo Staff Reporter

South Korea continued its strong performance on the second day of the Beijing Olympics as it won two gold medals from swimming and archery, while the women's weightlifting produced one silver, Sunday.

In the men's 400-meter freestyle, local swimming icon Park Tae-hwan brought home its first gold medal of the sport in Olympic history, while the women's archery squad has reached the milestone record of the sixth straight gold medal in the Summer Games.

Weightlifter Yoon Jin-hee settled for a silver medal in the women's 53-kilogram competition.

Getting off to a blistering start for two days in a row, South Korea, which hopes for a top-10 finish for the second straight time, ranks second with three gold and two silver medals behind host China, which has six golds and two silvers, as of Sunday night.

The United States places third after claiming two golds, two silvers and four bronzes.

Park, an 18-year-old fast-rising star, controlled the race over Hackett after 200 meters, and the current world champion ran away with the lead with 50 meters remaining to touch the pad first in 3 minutes and 41.86 seconds.

China's Zhang Lin won a silver medal with a time of 3:42.78, while American Larsen Jensen came in third in 3:42.78.

Favorite Hackett finished sixth.

In archery, the South Korean women's squad, composed of Park Sung-hyun, Yun Ok-hee and Joo Hyun-jung, won another Olympic title by defeating China 224-215 in the final of the team event.

With the victory, the South Korean women's team won all golds of the Olympics since it became an official sport at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

France finished third.

The South Koreans set a new world record by shooting 231 points in the quarterfinals against Italy.

The previous record was 228, set by South Koreans Yun Ok-hee, Yun Mi-jin and Lee Tuk-young at the World Cup in Shanghai, China, in 2006.

Judoka Choi Min-ho became the first South Korean athlete to give the country the first gold medal of the Summer Games.

In the final match at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium, Choi, who will turn 28 on Aug. 18, faced world No. 1 Ludwig Paischer of Austria and threw him to the ground in 2 minutes, 14 seconds to give South Korea its first gold of the Beijing Games.

Choi needed only 7 minutes, 20 seconds in total on his way to the Olympic champion.

En route to the final bout, the South Korean judoka beat all of his opponents by ippon.

Securing the gold, Choi, who broke into tears of joy after the match, became the first South Korean champion in that category since Kim Jae-yeop won at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

In shooting, Jin fired 684.5 points in the final round to rank second as China's Pang Wei, who scored 688.2, gave the host its second gold at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall earlier in the day.

With the second podium finish, the South Korean marksman stuck with a silver medal at the two straight Olympics.

Jin, 28, also stood at second in the men's 50-meter pistol event in Athens.

In the women's basketball, point guard Choi Yoon-ah scored 19 points, including two game-tying free throws at 55-53 with 21.4 seconds to go, which forced the match into the overtime.

During the extra period, the 22-year-old Shinhan S-bird continued strong performance on her first Olympic stage, scoring four points on the foul line, and Byeon Yeon-ha, who added 19 in the game, hit a 3-pointer with 2 minutes and 40 seconds left to make it 62-57.

Head coach Jung Duk-hwa's side will face Russia Monday.

The South Korean handball team, the two-time Olympic champion, came back from the nine-point deficit to draw with the top-ranked Russia.

In the 43rd minute when Russia led 26-17, South Koreans began a nine-goal streak, capped by a goal from centerback Kim On-a, who is the youngest player on the squad and scored seven goals in the match.

South Korea will play its second qualifier of Group B against Germany Monday.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr