Ki Bo Bae: 2nd win would be “greatest achievement” in archery

Header picture courtesy The Infinite Curve. Quotes by the Olympic News Service at Rio 2016.

No Olympic archer has ever successfully defended their individual title.

Darrell Pace is the only athlete to have won two. His first was in 1976, second in 1984 – but he didn’t attend the Games in 1980.

While the men’s winner in London, Oh Jin Hyek, didn’t qualify for the Rio Games, women’s champion Ki Bo Bae has an opportunity to make history in 2016. If she wins a second Olympics in a row, she would catapult herself into the history books.

“It would be the greatest achievement in target archery,” she said. “But we have many legendary archers in Korea, such as Kim Soo-Nyung, Lee Eun Kyung, Kim Kyung Wook, Yun Mi Jin and Park Sung-Hyun.”

“If I had a position on that list it would be a huge honour for me.”

After spending the 2014 season off the Korean archery team, Ki Bo Bae returned to take her first world title in Copenhagen in 2015. The 28-year-old is ranked world number three arriving in Rio.

“Of course, I always imagine that moment here. I hope that I can achieve the title in both the individual and team competition,” she said.

The Korean recurve women have won the Olympic team title ever since it was introduced in Seoul in 1988. That’s seven times in a row. In Rio, Ki Bo Bae, Choi Misun and team captain Chang Hye Jin shoot for number eight.

“I think there are a lot of teams which have been improved recently. There is Russia, Chinese Taipei… it may not be easy,” said Ki Bo Bae.

Korean head coach Moon Hyung Cheol said the squad was used to the environment in South America, comfortable with the wind conditions in the venue and had confidence in their ability ahead of the competition. 

“Especially in team competition, we have three top level archers. Even if there are some countries who have one or two good archers in the team, having all three archers with a high level of skill is not so easy,” he said.

The archery competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games starts on the 5 August in the Sambodromo.