Korea’s No. 1 is the World’s No. 1′. It makes me feel good just hearing it. In sports, archery wears the crown. Since the team archery event was adopted at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Korean female athletes have won nine consecutive gold medals. So far, Korea has won only 27 gold medals in archery at the Olympics, far ahead of the runner-up USA (16).
Research and analysis on why Korean archery is so strong is piled up like a mountain. Archery is not only strong, but also transparent and exemplary. People say, “Do only as much as archery” while watching events that are constantly subject to all sorts of corruption and scandals, including short track, the “cradle of incidents and accidents.”
So, I decided to meet with Jang Young-sul, vice president of the Archery Association, the ‘godfather of Korean archery’. From 1996 Atlanta to 2012 London, he served as the coach of the Olympic team for five consecutive times, and then led the ‘strongest archery’ as the executive director and vice president of the Archery Association.
Vice-Chairman Jang, whom we met at the STX Training Center in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, where a class for archery instructors and referees is being held, refused to take pictures, saying, “I don’t want to be exposed.”
Win&Win Bows and Fivix Targets Domestically No. 1 in the World
Q: I heard that becoming a national representative in archery is harder than winning an Olympic gold medal.
A: “Ansan, who won the first three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, was also eliminated from the second half selection. It wasn’t until the following spring that he was able to join the national team. In archery, there are no golden spoons and no earthen spoons. Even Ki Bo-bae’s grandpa, not the world’s Ki Bo-bae, has to leave if he falls because he can’t manage himself. Isn’t it fairness of opportunity that the MZ generation is most thirsty for and resentful of these days? Only 4,000 arrows were shot in five selection matches before being selected as a national representative.”
Q: I heard that there was a war for registration in the archery class at Seoul National University because Ki Bo-bae was said to be an instructor.
A : “It has been over 30 years since Seoul National University opened an archery course, and it has been popular since the beginning (laughs). I was also in charge of teaching for three years, and there were so many applicants for regular courses that I made three separate courses during the seasonal semester. At first, the archery was shot from 5m in front, and the distance was gradually increased. I felt the tension of the real battle and realized how important it is to follow the rules.”
Q: How has archery changed?
A : “At the 1984 LA Olympics, I covered the game with 288 shots. Whoever shoots well wins. The 1988 Seoul Olympics changed to 36 shots, and now 3 shots per set determines the match. Sports are unpredictable and need to have dramatic twists in order to enjoy watching a live broadcast. Changed the way the game was played to keep Korea in check, monopolizing the Olympic gold medal? There is no such thing as 0.1%. The World Archery Federation also worked hard to survive in the Olympics, and thanks to that, opportunities came to latecomers.”
Archery is divided into recurve, which is an Olympic event, and compound, which aims to enter the Olympics. Compound made it easy for non-professionals to enjoy by attaching a pulley to the bow. It is said that 70-80% of the global archery population use compound. Recently, the Korea Archery Association has made headlines by appointing Rio Wilde (USA) as the national team coach.
Q: Coach Mi was selected for the compound national team.
A : “In the recurve event, we are undisputedly number one in the world, but the number of players in the compound field is thin. Of the 2,263 registered archers last year, only 175 were compound. There was a time when I went to a world competition and won first place, but there were voices asking if it was necessary to select a foreigner. But the president was adamant. ‘When electric vehicles become mainstream, it is only a matter of time before internal combustion engines disappear. What will happen if only compound remains and recurve disappears after 20 years? He said, “We need to bring in the world’s best leaders to learn what to learn and to have a system in place.”
Chairman Eui-sun Eui-sun, Avante gifts during practice games
Q: What is the ripple effect of ‘No. 1 in Korea = No. 1 in the world’?
A : “The local bow maker WIN&WIN has surpassed Hoyt (USA) to become the world’s best archery brand. Olympic archery targets are exclusively provided by Fivix, a Korean manufacturer. The fact that our leaders are in charge of each country’s national team and achieve good results shows the excellence of Korean archery and Koreans. The archery training videos created by our association are famous for their high quality, and we put English subtitles so that anyone can share them. There was also a voice saying, ‘Isn’t the know-how leaked?’, but the decision was made in a sweeping way. Instead, we go to great lengths to stay on top of the world.”
Q: For example, how much effort do you put in?
A : “I wrote on my phone that ‘failure to prepare is to prepare for failure’. The temperature, humidity, wind direction and speed of the stadium are basic, and even the unexpected behavior of the spectators and the movements of the media were predicted and prepared. At the Tokyo Olympics, I expected TV cameras to take close-up pictures of our athletes. One of the unbroken records of winning streak at the Olympics is the women’s archery team event. So, for the first time, the Olympic finals were broadcast on TV. There was an uproar in each team, but I persuaded them saying, ‘If you don’t prepare, you will lose’. As expected, the moment Ansan was shooting an arrow in Tokyo, the camera took a close-up shot from 1m in front. Thanks to our preparations in advance, we won the women’s team gold medal for the ninth consecutive time.”
Q: I heard that the national team operation manual is over 700 pages long.
A : “If you go abroad for training or competitions, you must notify the hotel of the list of guests per room in advance. There is no reason or time to mess around in the hotel lobby. If you go to a physical fitness test, the female athlete decides what to wear and how to measure in which area. If you do not prepare with zero-defect (zero-defect), you will not be able to win the Olympic gold medal. Water boils at 100 degrees, but does not boil until 99 degrees.”
Hyundai Motor Company plays an absolute role in keeping Korean archery at the top of the world. With strong support, leaders are not entangled i토토사이트n corruption or irregularities, and players can focus only on training and improving performance. The Hyundai Motor Research Center also contributed greatly to improving the performance of the archery team.
Most of the arrows used in the Olympics are products from Easton, USA. However, there are subtle differences for each arrow, and deformation occurs depending on temperature or humidity. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, an arrow was broken. Hyundai Motor Company performed non-destructive testing on the arrows used by our players and developed a shooting machine so that we could select arrows of uniform quality. After making models of the players’ hands, they made grips that fit each hand with a 3D printer.
Q: Chairman Chung Eui-sun seems to have a special love for archery.
A : “It’s strange, but I have to talk. The president is not revealed, but he takes care of the players very carefully. At the Olympics and major international competitions, people cheer in the spectator seats under the scorching sun. During the Tokyo Olympics, apart from meals at the athletes’ village, he personally prepared the menu for the athletes’ 10 meals. When he heard that Samgyetang was delivered in a thermos bottle, he said, ‘Let’s boil it in an earthenware pot so that it can be eaten.’ He made a surprise visit to the training camp in Myanmar for 2 days and 1 night, and presented a new Avante to one of the first-place players in his own practice game, saying, ‘A pretty car has come out that young people will like’.”
Q: It seems that archers are very lucky.
A: “Of course. As an archer, I am truly grateful that the honorary president and the president have led archery for generations. Since the president is serious about archery, it seems that his mind is contagious. It is also seen that the association staff are sincere towards the leaders and players. They said that something was smeared on the textbooks for the coaching and refereeing classes, and they wiped them off one by one.”
Vice Chairman Jang said that ‘dominoes of gratitude and emotion’ are the invisible strength of Korean archery.