Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-13 19:42:54

(BEIJING, August 13) — With the crowd chanting his name after each arrow, No. 10 seed Lee Chang-hwan of the Republic of Korea (ROK) shot a near perfect score of 117 out of 120 to set a 12-arrow Olympic record in the Men’s Individual Elimination rounds at the Olympic Green Archery Field on Wednesday.

Lee and his teammate Im Dong-hyun, along with three of the top four seeded archers, Juan Rene Serrano of Mexico, Viktor Ruban of Ukraine and Park Kyung-mo (ROK), advanced as expected to the 1/8 Elimination Round.

Other archers who qualified for the top 16 include Alan Wills of Great Britain and Victor Wunderle of the United States.

In an exciting match that came down to the very last arrow, Wills, the No. 21 seed, took out the reigning Olympic champion Marco Galiazzo of Italy, in the 1/16 Elimination round, 110-109.

Wunderle, the Individual silver medalist at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, kept the USA’s hopes alive for an Individual medal when he defeated Ilario Di Buo’ of Italy in a two-arrow shoot-off following a 108-108 tie. Both Di Buo’ and Wunderle shot a nine on the first arrow, but it was Wunderle who conquered with a 10 to Di Buo’s eight on the second arrow.

In the biggest upset of the day, No. 2 seed Mangal Singh Champia of India failed to advance to the top 16. Champia lost to No. 31 seed Bair Badenov of Russia, 109-108, but Badenov did not win his next match.

Before the Men’s Individual Elimination Rounds began on Wednesday, the Olympic Record was 115. Although it was Lee who broke the record, three other archers, Serrano, Park, and Jacek Proc of Poland shot 116s in their Elimination matches.

The Olympic record broken Wednesday was set 12 years ago at the Altanta 1996 Olympic Games by Oh Kyo-moon (ROK). Oh is in Beijing as the head coach of the Australian Archery team.

The Men’s 1/8 Elimination matches begin at 10:30 on Friday, August 15 at the Olympic Green Archery Field.

Updated: 2008-08-13 19:16:47

(BEIJING, August 13) — The Republic of Korea trio of Park Sung-hyun, Yun Ok-hee and Joo Hyun-jung won the Archery Women’s Team event on Sunday and have set their sights on a clean sweep of the Women’s Individual event.

Park is trying to become the first archer to successfully defend an Individual Olympic title since a new head-to-head format was introduced in 1992. The 25-year-old Park is the No. 1 seed and ranked No. 2 in the world.

Yun tied the 12-arrow Olympic record when she shot a 114 on Tuesday, in the first day of Eliminations. Yun poses the greatest threat to her teammate Park for the gold medal. Yun is the No. 2 seed and ranked No. 1 in the world.

Joo, at 26 years old, shot extremely well in her first Olympics. She is the No. 3 seed and ranked No. 11 in the world.

A challenge to another ROK medal sweep comes from China’s Zhang Juanjuan who took silver in Sunday’s Team event and is shooting with the home crowd behind her.

Berengere Schuh of France played a leading role in France’s bronze medal match win over Great Britain in the Team event. Having shot back-to-back 112s in the 1/32 and 1/16 Elimination Rounds, Schuh is expected to bring on the challenge.

Competition starts at 10:30 on Thursday, August 14 on the Olympic Green Archery Field.

Updated: 2008-08-12 22:23:54

(beijing2008.cn/spectators/beijing/index.shtml’ target=_blank>BEIJING, August 12) — Yun Ok-hee of the Republic of Korea and Jennifer Nichols of the United States tied the Olympic 12-arrow record, scoring 114 out of a potential 120 points in the Women’s Individual matches at the Olympic Green venues/sports/archery/index.shtml’ target=_blank>Archery Field on Tuesday, August 12. The good form did not continue for Nichols however, being eliminated for the competition in her next match.

Top seeded ROK archers, Park Sung-hyun, Joo Hyun-jung and Khatuna Narimanidze of Georgia advanced easily to the 1/8 Elimination Round.

In the afternoon session, Nichols tied the Olympic record in her 1/32 Elimination match, but lost to Hayakawa Nami of Japan on the very last arrow of their 1/16 Elimination match.

At 14, Avitia of Mexico, the youngest archer at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, showed age is no barrier to Olympic success when she beat Malgorzata Cwienczek of Poland in the 1/16 Elimination Round by one point, 110-109. Avitia’s Mexican teammate, Aida Roman also advanced.

In the only match that featured teammates, Naomi Folkard of Great Britain defeated Charlotte Burgess 110-96 in the 1/16 Elimination Round. Earlier Burgess, the No. 40 seed, surprised the Chinese fans when she took out Guo Dan (CHN), the No. 25 seed, 106-104.

Lorig was the biggest surprise of the day, triumphing over Alison Williamson of Great Britain 112-109 in the 1/16 Elimination Round. Lorig, the No. 26 seed, is a four-time Olympian and Team bronze medalist from Barcelona in 1992. Williamson, the No. 7 seed, is a five-time Olympian and the Individual bronze medalist in Athens in 2004. Lorig beat Virginie Arnold of France, the Team bronze medalist from Saturday, in the 1/32 Elimination Round.

Schuh shot the most impressive back-to-back scores of the morning, beating Italian Pia Carmen Lionetti 112-107 and Japan’s Kitabatake Sayoko 112-100.

Yuan Shu-chi of Chinese Taipei was fourth at Athens in 2004.Yuan’s hopes for an Individual medal were dashed when she lost her 1/16 Elimination match to Zhang Juanjuan (CHN) 110-105. Zhang, a clear crowd favorite, won her 1/32 match against Tetyana Berezhna 0f Ukraine 109-97.

The ROK archers Joo and Yun made it through the first two rounds easily. Joo clinched her 1/32 match 108-98 against Sigrid Romero of Colombia even before the last arrow was shot. Joo then took out Natalia Valeeva of Italy, the reigning world champion in the 1/16 Elimination match by 110-108.

Updated: 2008-08-12 20:46:08

(BEIJING, August 12) — The ROK trio of Im Dong-hyun, Park Kyung-mo and Lee Chang-hwan won the Archery Men’s Team event on Monday, and each is hoping to become their country’s first Men’s Individual Olympic gold medalist.

Im, Park and Lee are expected to advance to the Men’s 1/8 Individual Elimination round. Park led the ROK in the Ranking Round with a score of 676 points and is the No. 4 seed. Im is the No. 8 seed, while Lee is seeded 10.

Mexico’s Juan Rene Serrano surprised the field by placing first in the Ranking Round, and has to be considered a favorite for the gold. Serrano was second at the 2007 World Cup Final in Dubai, UAE, but is still considered a relative newcomer to the international Archery scene.

The Italian duo of Ilario Di Buo’ (the No. 9 seed) and Marco Galiazzo (No. 12) will be looking to advance to the top 16 after earning a Team silver medal on Monday. Galiazzo is the defending Olympic Individual champion, while Di Buo’ recently won the Individual gold medal at the 2008 World Cup in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Also in contention for the podium is 2007 World Cup champion and No. 6 seed Baljinima Tsyrempilov of Russia, who is expected to move through to the top 16. Barcelona 1992 bronze medalist, Simon Terry of Great Britain is also anticipated to make a showing after finishing seventh in the Ranking Round.

The Archery Men’s Individual competition will get underway at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 13 at the Olympic Green Archery Field.

Updated: 2008-08-11 22:03:58

The three winning teams on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

(BEIJING, August 11) — The Republic of Korea Men beat Italy and set a 24-arrow Olympic record of 227 to take the country’s fourth ever Olympic Team gold medal. The Men’s semifinal and medal matches provided an intense afternoon of competition that came down to the very last arrow Monday.

In the gold medal match, ROK and Italy were tied going into the last three arrows when Mauro Nespoli (ITA) shot a seven, handing the gold medal to ROK 227-225. The loss was a flashback to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when ROK defeated Italy in the gold medal match.

In the bronze medal match, Ukraine was unable to defend the Team bronze they won in 2004. Ukraine climbed back from a six point deficit at the halfway point, only to lose to host China on the last arrow, 222-219.

ROK beat China in an energy-filled semifinal. Halfway through the match, China was tied with ROK, but the pressure eventually caught up with the hosts and they were unable to deny the Republic of Korea a fourth shot at Team Olympic gold, losing the match 221-218.

In the other semifinal match, Italy beat Ukraine 223-221 with a crowd-pleasing last arrow ringer by Italian newcomer Nespoli.

Italy’s second-place win brings the country its 500th Olympic medal. The silver was Italy’s sixth all-time Archery medal and third in the Men’s Team event.

Updated: 2008-08-11 20:37:03

(BEIJING, August 11) — Park Sung-hyun of the Republic of Korea is the archer to beat in the Women’s Individual event at this year’s Games.

Park is trying to become the first archer to successfully defend an Individual Olympic title since the head-to-head format was introduced in 1992. Seeded No. 1, Park tied the 720-arrow Olympic record in the Individual Ranking Round on Saturday.

Park played a key role in the ROK’s 224-215 win over China in the Women’s Team event on Sunday. On her final arrow, Park hit a 10, just as she did in the Women’s Team event final, to clinch gold in Athens.

Teammate Yun Ok-hee, the No. 2 seed, poses the strongest threat to Park. Yun won a silver medal at the most recent World Cup in Boe, France and at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. She lost to Park in both events.

ROK third seeded Joo Hyun-jung who won Team gold with Park and Yun on Sunday is also in contention. Despite being new to the international scene, Joo has potential to join her countrymen in a medal sweep.

Other top contenders include World No. 6, China’s Zhang Juanjuan who helped the Chinese Women’s team take silver in Sunday’s competition. Khatuna Narimandize of Georgia, who placed fourth in the Ranking Round and Athens fourth-place finisher Yuan Shushi of Chinese Taipei are also expected to challenge the podium.

Competition gets underway at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 12 at the Olympic Green Archery Field with the Women’s Individual 1/32 and 1/16 Eliminations. Medals will be awarded on Thursday, August 14.

Updated: 2008-08-11 19:53:00

(L-R) Park Kyung-mo, Lee Chang-hwan and Im Dong-hyun (Photo credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 11) — The Republic of Korea men beat Italy and set a 24-arrow Olympic record of 227 en route to their fourth Olympic Team gold medal. The Men’s semifinal and medal matches provided an incredible afternoon filled with nail-biting matches that came down to the very last arrow at the Olympic Green Archery Field on Monday, August 11.

In the gold medal match, the ROK and Italy were tied going into the last three arrows when Mauro Nespoli (ITA) shot a seven, handing the gold medal to the ROK (227-225). For Ilario Di Buo’ (ITA), the loss was a flashback to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when the ROK defeated Italy in the gold medal match. Di Buo’ is the only remaining archer from either team.

Im Dong-hyun celebrates winning the gold medal. (Photo credit: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

In the bronze medal match, Ukraine was unable to defend the Team bronze medal they won in 2004. Ukraine climbed back from a six point deficit at the halfway point, only to lose to the crowd favorite, China, on the last arrow, 222-219.

The ROK beat China in an energy-filled semifinal. Halfway through the match, China was tied with the ROK, but the pressure eventually caught up with China and they were unable to deny the ROK’s a fourth shot at team Olympic gold, losing the match (221-218).

In the semifinals, Italy assured itself a Men’s Team medal by beating Ukraine, 223-221. To advance to the gold medal final, Italy needed to shoot a nine on the last arrow and it was Nespoli, the newcomer to the Italian team, who calmly nailed a 10 to the delight of the crowd.

En route to the semifinals, the ROK had a bye in the 1/8 Elimination Round and beat Poland in the 1/4 Elimination Round. Italy beat Canada in the 1/8 Elimination Round and Malaysia in the 1/4 Elimination Round. China beat Russia in the 1/4 Elimination round and Great Britain in the 1/8 Elimination Round. Ukraine had a bye in the 1/8 Elimination Round and then beat Chinese Taipei in the 1/4 Elimination Round.

The US lost to Chinese Taipei in the 1/8 Elimination Round.