Tokyo Olympics-Archery: An San wins gold in the women’s individual event, the first hat-trick

TOKYO, Jul 30 – An San entered the record books this Friday, winning gold in the women’s individual archery event in Tokyo to become the first archer to win three gold medals during the same Olympic competition.

An is also South Korea’s first triple gold medalist at the Summer Olympics and the first athlete with three gold medals in Tokyo.

She beat Elena Osipova of the Russian Olympic Committee 6-5 in the final at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Ground in the Japanese capital, after winning the mixed team and team gold medals. feminine.

An made her Olympic debut in the mixed team event last week.

An rose to the challenge in a memorable final against Osipova, beating her with a final 10.

In the individual match, the archers each shoot three arrows per set. A win per set is worth two points and a tie is worth one point. The first to reach six points wins the match. In the event of a tie after five sets, they participate in overtime, where the arrow with the highest score or the arrow closest to 10 is declared the winner.

An opened the final with an unusual 8 but rebounded with a consecutive 10 to reach 28. Osipova tied the score and the two were tied 1-1 after a set.

An shot a perfect 30, one point ahead of Osipova, to take a 3-1 lead. Osipova then scored a 28, and An only scored a 27.

Osipova then took a 5-3 lead with a 29-27 victory in the fourth set. An scored a 9-10-10 over Osipova’s 9-9-9 to win the fifth set and draw at 5-5.

In extra time, An scored a 10, putting pressure on Osipova. The Russian only managed an 8, her lowest score in the final.

An, who had remained cool, calm and serene all week, finally showed some emotion during the medal ceremony.

“When it all ended, I felt like my heart was going to explode,” An said. “I didn’t really expect to win my third gold medal. After winning my two team titles, I just wanted to let luck take care of everything. I guess I was lucky today. ”

An is now the first South Korean athlete to win three gold medals at the Summer Olympics. Two South Korean short track speed skaters, Ahn Hyun-soo and Jin Sun-yu, each won three gold medals at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

(Yonhap)

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