World Archery Championships: all about winning

Ulsan ready to host the world of archery!    IM Dong-Hyun (KOR), Natalia VALEEVA (ITA), Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN) and Eugenia SALVI (ITA) are the current world champions! There are more than 400 archers from more than 50 countries who want to take their place. We took a look at all the medallists from all major FITA events since 2004 to find out who are the favourites this year!   Last year, before the Olympic Games, we published and commented the work of the Australian coach James PARK (click here). His statistical research showed the percentage of chances for an archer to win the title based on his results in the ranking round; in other words, his chances based on his pure technical skills. The research was clear: the archers must have a very high level of technical skills, even more so for a team. Of course, to win a 12-arrow match, the archers must also have nerves of steel to avoid making one single mistake in a challenging environment. This is the combination of both that gives the true winner.   We know that the best archers win more often. However, how many of them should be considered as the best archers? How many medals have they won in the last five years? FITA statistician Sergio FONT looked at all the major podiums in outdoor archery since the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. This means two Olympic Games, two world championships, 16 World Cup stages and three World Cup Finals.   We take a look now on the top 10 individuals in each category and their main contenders. We will preview the teams in another story (keep in mind, however, that the ones earning individual medals often earn team medals). The full reports with all the medallists of the last five years are available in pdf links below.   Medals Tables in major Archery Events since Athens 2004 Recurve Men - Individual Rank   by Gold Archer Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 IM Dong Hyun (KOR) 3   2 5 2 PARK Kyung Mo (KOR) 2 2 2 6 2 TSYREMPILOV Baljinima (RUS) 2 2 2 6 4 DI BUO Ilario (ITA) 2 1   3 4 RUBAN Viktor (UKR) 2 1   3 6 TALUKDAR Jayanta (IND) 2   1 3 6 GIROUILLE Romain (FRA) 2   1 3 8 GALIAZZO Marco (ITA) 1 1   2 9 TERRY Simon (GBR) 1   2 3 10 JANG Yong Ho (KOR) 1     1 10 WANG Cheng Pang (TPE) 1     1 10 FRANGILLI Michele (ITA) 1     1 10 KIM Yeon Chul (KOR) 1     1 10 CHEN Wenyuan (CHN) 1     1 10 CHUNG Jae Hun (KOR) 1     1 In green: will participate in World Championships Ulsan 2009   This category is the deepest. This means there are many archers who can beat a top archer in any single match. Therefore, this means that it is more difficult to win more often. Nevertheless, some manage to do so and often—the Koreans. In fact, the Koreans have won every world championships since 1993, except the 2003 edition when Michele FRANGILLI (ITA)—10th on the list—beat IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) photo. Actually, this would be one medal to add to the impressive five that IM has to top the above chart. At 23 year-old only, the Korean is an amazing talent. He is the double team Olympic gold medallist from 2004 and 2008, the 2007 individual and team world champion, the 2008 World Cup Final winner, among a long list of other titles in such a young career!   At 2nd place on the list, PARK Kyung-Mo (KOR) is a happy retired husband of non-less famous recurve women's archer PARK Sung-Hyun. Just as a quick recap: double team Olympic gold medallist in 2004 and 2008, 2008 World Cup Final winner and individual gold of the 1993 World Championships! He is the one who started the Korean men’s dynasty!   So, who can prevent IM to be the first one to repeat as world champion since Richard MCKINNEY (USA) who did it in 1983 and 1985? The list says Baljinima TSYREMPILOV (RUS)—beaten in the final by IM in Leipzig—Ilario Di BUO (ITA), Viktor RUBAN (UKR), Jayanta TALUKDAR (IND), Romain GIROUILLE (FRA), Marco GALIAZZO (ITA) and Simon TERRY (GBR). Di BUO and RUBAN are not quite in their Olympic form—RUBAN peaked in 2008 winning the World Cup stage in Boe late June and the Olympic Games in August—but the others are real threats.   On the 10th rank, CHEN Wenyuan (CHN) just won the Shanghai World Cup stage and WANG Cheng-Pan (TPE) got the World Cup stage in Ulsan 2007!   Among the other recent medallists who are serious contenders in Ulsan, let’s mention Juan Rene SERRANO (MEX), Rahul BANERJEE (IND), Brady ELLISON (USA) and of course IM’s teammates OH Jin-Hyek and LEE Chang-Wan. The latter is the reigning Olympic and world team champion, and an individual medal would be the pinnacle of his career!   Medals Tables in major Archery Events since Athens 2004 Recurve Women - Individual Rank   by Gold Archer Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 YUN Ok Hee (KOR) 4 2 3 9 2 PARK Sung Hyun (KOR) 3 3 3 9 3 VALEEVA Natalia (ITA) 3     3 4 ZHANG Juan Juan (CHN) 2 1 2 5 5 QIAN Jialing (CHN) 2 1   3 6 BANERJEE Dola (IND) 2   1 3 7 ERDYNIYEVA Natalya (RUS) 1 2 2 5 8 LEE Sung Jin (KOR) 1 1 1 3 9 MOSPINEK Justyna (POL) 1 1   2 10 KWAK Ye Ji (KOR) 1   1 2 In green: will participate in World Championships Ulsan 2009   YUN Ok-Hee (KOR) is one of the two archers who have won four World Cup stages since 2006 (the other one is compound men’s Sergio PAGNI). She has also an Olympic individual bronze and team gold. She is the true favourite to succeed Natalia VALEEVA (ITA) photo, but the experienced Italian—who has won so many medals since the 1992 Olympic Games—will not let go easily. VALEEVA has been the only one to break the Korean hegemony since 1989! She did it twice, in 1995 and 2007!   PARK Sung-Hyun (KOR) is the happy retired wife of the above mentioned PARK Kyung-Mo. A quick recap: two Olympic team gold, one gold and one silver Olympic individual, three team world titles, one gold, two silver and one bronze individual, among other medals! We have heard she may come out of retirement next year—or we will just wait for the promising kids we hope for this fabulous couple.   ZHANG Juan Juan (CHN) has retired after her Olympic title last year and QIAN Jailing (CHN) never gained back her form of 2006. All the other athletes are true threats for the podium. We will pick out Dola BANERJEE (IND), Natalya ERDYNIYEVA (RUS), KWAK Ye-Ji and JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR), Pia Carmen LIONETTI (ITA) and Berengere SCHUH (FRA).   Medals Tables in major Archery Events since Athens 2004 Compound Men - Individual Rank   by Gold Archer Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 PAGNI Sergio (ITA) 4     4 2 JIMENEZ Jorge (ESA) 3 4 2 9 3 GELLENTHIEN Braden (USA) 2 4 1 7 4 WILDE Reo (USA) 2 1   3 5 TRILLUS Dietmar (CAN) 2   1 1 6 COUSINS Dave (USA) 2     2 7 DOS SANTOS Roberval (BRA) 1 1 2 4 8 BRASSEUR Sebastien (FRA) 1 1   2 9 COGHLAN Patrick (AUS) 1   3 4 10 GENET Dominique (FRA) 1   1 2 In green: will participate in World Championships Ulsan 2009   This category is the densest. In the top 20 archers it is really a dogfight to find out the winner. In fact, 25 archers have managed to get a medal in World Archery major events since 2005. Still, some archers manage to hold on their nerves and reach perfection more often than others and they pile more medals.   The top 10 in the list above are all favourites. Sergio PAGNI (ITA) has won four World Cup stages in the last two years (that is 50% of them!) Jorge JIMENEZ (ESA) has won nine medals since 2006, including the World Cup Final in 2007. Dietmar TRILLUS (CAN)photo is the current world champion and 2008 World Cup Final winner.   The Americans have won four team titles out of seven, since the compound category joined the world archery championships in 1995. Braden GELLETHIEN, who won silver individually in 2007, Dave COUSINS, who won the individual title in 1999, and Reo WILDE, who won the 2006 World Cup Final and whose father Dee won the individual title in 1997, go to Ulsan to add more medals in their impressive collection.   Roberval DOS SANTOS (BRA), Sebastien BRASSEUR and Dominique GENET (FRA), and Patrick COGHLAN (AUS) can all go all the way—when they are on a good day!   Some are not on the top 10 list and therefore must be even hungrier for medals: the FITA Round world record holder Peter ELZINGA (NED), the double World Cup finalist Patrizio HOFER (SUI) and the young bronze medallist from Leipzig 2007 Martin DAMSBO (DEN).   Medals Tables in major Archery Events since Athens 2004 Compound Women - Individual Rank   by Gold Archer Gold Silver Bronze Total 1 GONCHAROVA Sofia (RUS) 5 2 1 8 2 VAN NATTA Jamie (USA) 3 5 2 10 3 KAZANTSEVA Anna (RUS) 3 2 1 6 4 ERICSSON Petra (SWE) 2 1   3 5 SALVI Eugenia (ITA) 2     2 5 GUEDEZ Luzmary (VEN) 2     2 7 BOUILLOT Amandine (FRA) 1   2 3 8 SOEMOD Camilla (DEN) 1   1 2 9 LORENTI Brittany (USA) 1     1 9 HUNT Nicky (GBR) 1     1 In green: will participate in World Championships Ulsan 2009   It is actually doubtful whether Sofia GONCHAROVA (RUS) will shoot in Ulsan. She dominated in 2005 and 2006 winning the world championships, the World Cup Final and three World Cup stages. She has won many medals with the Russian team and could bring her experience.   The lady who has won the highest number of medals in the World Cup, Jamie VAN NATTA (USA), and Anna KAZANTSEVA (RUS), who won three stages, did not pass the internal selections! Petra ERICSSON (SWE) is babysitting and coaching (see our interview).   Will Eugenia SALVI (ITA) photo be the first woman to repeat as a world champion? On opposition, the young generation is pushing really hard. There are many of them: the double World Cup stage winner Luzmary GUEDEZ and her teammate Olga BOSCH (VEN), the recent winner in Shanghai and 2006 European champion Camilla SOEMOD (DEN), the 2009 Porec winner Nicky HUNT (GBR), the 2007 world silver medallist Albina LOGINOVA (RUS), as well as Ivana BUDEN (CRO), the Ochoa’s sister from Mexico, Almendra and Linda, and the two young Americans Erika ANSCHUTZ and Kendal NICELY.   Finally let’s not forget Nichola SIMPSON (GBR), Diane WATSON (USA) and Gladys WILLEMS (BEL)!   The World Championships Ulsan 2009 will take place from 1-9 September for a lot of hopefuls, but only a few winners...   Medals Tables in major World Archery events since Athens 2004 Recurve Men - Individual Recurve Men - Team Recurve Women - Individual Recurve Women - Team Compound Men - Individual Compound Men - Team Compound Women - Individual Compound Women - Team   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication