Korean archers are champs again

TOKYO • South Korea retained their gold in the Olympic archery men's team event yesterday, extending their title reign and winning the country's third archery gold at the Tokyo Games.

Seventeen-year-old debutant Kim Je-deok won his second gold medal, helping the South Korean team beat Chinese Taipei 6-0 in the final after triumphing in the mixed-team event on Saturday.

"Before going into the Games, I said to myself, 'Let's not think about medals,'" said Kim. "Once you get greedy about medals, you have a lot of thoughts in your head, and that will make your body tense."

Arrows from Kim, Oh Jin-hyek and Kim Woo-jin hit six perfect 10s in the second set of the final.

Je-deok, who is his country's youngest Olympic gold medallist, had already won fame at home for an appearance on a 2016 talent TV show as an archery prodigy.

The South Korea men's team have now taken gold in the event six times at the Olympics, while the women's team have tied for the longest gold streak in Olympic history with nine successive titles.

Hosts Japan won bronze after defeating the Netherlands 5-4 in the battle for third place. Japan beat the United States 5-1 in the quarter-finals, leaving world champion Brady Ellison upset at the lost chance of a medal.

"Walking away without a medal wasn't even a reality. Kind of like (gymnast) Simone Biles not making the cut and all-around," said the 32-year-old who admitted South Korea had an unparalleled, well-established professional system.

"There, archery is set up like our Major League Baseball, the National Football League. So the only way someone is going to beat Korea is to have a team step up and outwork, and no one's done that."

There are two more archery events - the women's and men's individual on Friday and Saturday - with the South Koreans aiming for a clean sweep.

REUTERS