Elia Canales and Andrés Temiño They just made history in Gwangju, South Korea. In the country where archery is a religion, the great dominator of the event, the Spanish couple has won a historic gold in the mixed recurve bow discipline, an Olympic modality. They beat the hosts 2-6 in the final to obtain a title that Spain had never had. The size of the Maracanazo obtained is reflected by two pieces of information: Korea had dominated this specialty since its introduction in 2011 with seven world golds. The Asian country has dominated every Olympic edition of this sport since the 88 Seoul Olympic Games, when the nation entered another dimension.
The way it was done was also epic. They beat Japan in the semifinals on September 9 and then, in torrential rain, they made it even more difficult. They beat the duo formed by AN Santhree-time Olympic champion, and five-time Olympic gold winner, Kim Woojinrecent winner in Paris.
Canals and Temiño They surpassed the Dutch Quinty Roeffen y Senna Roos 6-0 in the round of 16, to the Mexicans ALejandra Valencia and Matías Grance 5-3 in the quarterfinals and the Japanese Asakuno Nanami y Kawata Yuki 5-1 in the semifinals. A splendid tour. They had already achieved Spain record with 1,364 points in the qualifying rounds.
We are a very strong team and the result has been given in this World Cup
“This shows us that we have the level. They – for South Korea – are a very strong team, but we are at their level,” said the Catalan Canales. He Aragonese Temiño He was happy to finally obtain results for so much work. “We have been showing these years that we are a very strong team and the result has been seen in this World Cup.”
Canals and Temiño They were not together at the Games. Only Elia did it, along with Pablo Acha. The duo fell in the quarterfinals. But his results in the World Cup, bronze in South Korea and silver in China, predicted a good performance in Gwangju, as it turned out.
They did it with the nail public. “The fans were like a soccer match in Spain… Almost like the Olympic Games,” he said. Canaleswho could not hold back his tears after winning the world title. They had summited the highest archery mountain, Korea. “It’s incredible, because having won them at home adds to the feat of the title,” he said, euphoric, Vicente Martínez, the president of the Archery Federation. A feat.
