SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) — An San, who brought South Korea three gold medals in archery at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, will not get the chance to defend his Olympic titles in Paris this summer. She was eliminated midway through the third round of the national team trials, which took place in the southwestern city of Gwangju. An, aged 23, caused a sensation by winning the Olympic title during her first participation in the Olympic Games in each of the events in which she took part, namely in the women’s individual, women’s team and mixed team competitions.
The third round of qualifications consists of two competitions, one for men and one for women, which are divided into six rounds. Each of these competitions pits 20 athletes from the second round against each other and four members of the national team in 2023. After three rounds, only the best 16 can continue, and once the six rounds have been played, the best eight officially join the national team. By only positioning herself 21st after the first three rounds which took place on Monday, An created a surprise with her elimination, even though she was part of the national team last year.
An San
South Korean archer An San. (Photo provided by the Korean Archery Association, KAA, March 7, 2024. Resale and archiving prohibited)
This elimination, which occurred surprisingly early for an athlete of this caliber, illustrates the uncertainty inherent in this discipline but also the level of competitiveness in South Korea. An isn’t even the first archery champion to fail to defend her title and likely won’t be the last either. Chang Hye-jin won two gold medals in 2016 but was eliminated early in the 2021 national qualifiers.
Lim Si-hyeon, a three-time gold medalist at last year’s Hangzhou Asian Games, currently leads the score. On the men’s side, the three archers who won team gold in Tokyo, namely Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok and Oh Jin-hyek, are currently in first, second and fourth place respectively. For the eight women and eight men selected, the goal will not stop there. They will still have to participate in two qualifying rounds, this time with one of the six tickets for the Paris Olympics at stake.
(FIN)
2024-03-12 07:00:00
#Archery #San #threetime #Olympic #champion #Paris
