After winning a total of six gold medals at the Hangzhou Asian Games and Paris Olympics, South Korean archer Lim Im-hyun (21-Korea Gymnastics Team) said she was “going through the eye of a needle” to win back-to-back titles.
The Korean archer defeated Nam Soo-hyun, the youngest member of the national team, 7-3 (29-29 29-26 30-27 29-30 28-26) in the women’s individual archery final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on Wednesday at the Parc des Princes in Paris, France.
After winning three gold medals at last year’s Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games, the South Korean archer proved that he is one of the world’s strongest archers by winning three gold medals on the Olympic stage.
He is the second archery triple winner at the Olympics, joining Ansan (Gwangju Bank) at Tokyo 2021, where mixed events were first introduced.
“I’m honored to win another triple at the Paris Olympics, which is right after the Asian Games,” said Lim, who appeared in the joint press area with his gold medal around his neck.
“Someone said to me, ‘You won three gold medals in Hangzhou, do you think it will be easy to win three gold medals again in the next Games,'” she laughed, “but I went through the eye of the needle.”
Her goal now is to maintain this form and status for a long time. Coach Yang Chang-hoon also told reporters earlier that he hopes that Im and silver medalist Nam Soo-hyun will enjoy their prime for more than a decade.
In this context, Im cited Kim Woo-jin (32, Cheongju City), who is considered the best archer in the world, as a “role model. The two had shared a gold medal in the mixed team event the day before.
“I want to be like Woo Jin, and I think his strength is his 안전놀이터 consistency, and I thought how many athletes can be consistent in that position,” said Im, adding, “I will continue to watch him and learn a lot.”
“It’s so frustrating when you’ve worked so hard to prepare and it’s over so quickly, so I think that’s why I shoot harder,” he said.
“I want to get some sleep now, I really want to get some rest,” said Lim, who shot hundreds of arrows a day while preparing for the Olympics.
With three gold medals in his first Olympics, Lim needs just one more to tie Kim Soon-yeong (four golds) for the record. With two, she will surpass Kim’s record.
Kim is the first Korean archer to win multiple crowns. She won the women’s individual and women’s team events at the 1988 Seoul Games, becoming the first South Korean athlete to win a double Olympic title.
She also won one gold medal each at Barcelona 1992 and Sydney 2000 (women’s team event). She has won more gold medals for South Korea than any other female athlete.
If she maintains her form, she could overtake Kim at the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics.
But for now, she doesn’t want to think about the future. She wants to focus on the joy of the present, the reward for her hard work.
“The next Olympics is four years away,” she says. I’m going to enjoy the present a little more,” he laughs.