Paris 2024 ... Samey & Predictable but a Hell of a Ride.

With the Men's Individual gold medal being decided on Sunday (4th August) .. archery at the Olympics was done for another four years. Its been a dull old competition with nothing surprising happening, no-one stepping up to challenge and matches being a predictable yawn fest. Well, they were if viewed from a certain angle - the results. The Koreans took five gold medals in Paris when in Tokyo they only took four of the five. Either they're getting better or the rest of the World is getting worse. This was supposed to be the year the Koreans were "weak", with little experience and past it archers. Obviously that's not how it played out .. a touch of "So meet the new boss, same as the old boss". And yet these were arguably the mostly evenly matched Olympic archery matches ... well ... ever! Lets take a critical look at key moments in the five competitions...

Ladies Team: Adding in Paris, the Korean ladies have smoked the rest of the World 10 consecutive times. Its got to the point the IOC should cast the ladies gold medal with the Korean flag on the back. When the team arrives, the gold is just handed to the ladies who can go home without the inconvenience of having to shoot. But the 10th win hides a dark secret. In the semi-finals, the Koreans were up against the Dutch who after losing the first end 53-57, roared back with 53-52 and 58-57.  The Dutch looked good. They looked confident. The Koreans looked vulnerable. One good end of six arrows was all that was needed to shatter the Korean women's dominance of Olympic archery. In theory, fantastic. On the field, the Dutch crumpled shooting four 8's. The Koreans, on the ropes and feeling pressure from their entire nation's expectations and 40 years of continuous success .. shot 59 out of 60 to tie the match 4-4. A one end shoot off followed but you could see the Dutch were unnerved. 8-7-8 is not an score to beat Koreans. They were vulnerable for just a second .. but you don't get a second chance. Gold to Korea

Men's Team: In the men's team it was simple dominance .. 6-0, 5-1, 5-1 with Japan, China and France getting a very rough deal. With male archers ranked 1, 2 and 8 in this years World Cup .. Korea had a team that was <outrageous french accent> formidable </french accent>. The rest of the world simply cannot put as impressive a team together. Its said that 50 of the top 100 archers in the world are Korean but you never see the other 47 because they can't make the national team. Here is proof. The cream of that Nietzschean environment, in a team format. Simply too good for the rest of the World. Gold to Korea

Mixed Team: This one looked like a slam dunk, took an odd turn yet even so went the way we expected. Lim Sihyeon and Kim Woojin on paper looked to have this one signed, notarized and accepted as legally binding from the very first shot. Top of the heap, they should have dominated. That's not how it turned out. Lim looked a little wobbly. She wasn't shooting badly but there were 8's. Cue the veteran presence of Kim to step in to steady things. Consistently hitting 9's and 10's he kept things steady allowing the two Koreans to just wear the Germans down. The 6-0 score does not reflect how close it really was as the Germans lost by a total of 5 points over the 12 arrows. Still ... Gold to Korea

Individual Ladies: If you were rooting for anyone but the Koreans in this event, you were looking at the finals with a pained expression. Four finalists, three Koreans. 75% representation from a country with 0.64% of the worlds population. However this statistic masks the weakness that was suspected to be there pre competition. These Korean ladies were not the 10 machines of old like An San, Ki Bo Bae or Kang Chae Young. These archers shoot eights. In London 2012 Ki Bo Bae gave a tearful interview, after taking gold with an eight shot in horrendously windy conditions. She apologised because "Koreans don't shoot eights!" They do now!
So after the semi's, gold was going to a Korean no matter what but in the bronze medal match, Lisa Barbelin and Jeon Hunyoung desperately tried to give the medal to the other with six 8's shot (4 were Korean). Lisa locked in the win by NOT shooting an eight in the final end where after she proceeded to be a bit ott in post win tears .. but who are we to say anything. If any of us beat a Korean, riot police might be required for the post match celebrations. Oddly the gold medal match was decided by an eight as well. Gold and Silver to Korea

Individual Men: As noted above, as a team the Korean men were pretty unstoppable. But as individuals, there were always going to be opportunities. However in the early stages, the Korean machine rolled over everyone. Just when the rest of the World got an edge, KOR 10's would arrive with the same inevitability as midgies in Scotland. That was til the last match in the quarterfinals. Brady Ellison (USA) slapped Kim Je Deok right out of the competition 6-0. In the semi's, Ellison took out the German Florian Unruh to book his place for the gold AND in Korean on Korean action, Kim Woojin beat Lee Wooseok. This set up a face off between two of the best archers of the last decade, arguably ever. The meeting had a mountain of subplots. History through the numerous times they've faced off. Kim approaching retirement wanting individual gold, the one achievement he didn't have. Ellison also hungry for the individual gold which he lacks for his collection. In addition, he was on a mission to clear the US's reputation after Team USA's disqualification last month from the world cup. The match did not disappoint.
1st end Kim shot an 8 possibly fighting the occasion and the pressure for 27 - Brady went for the throat with a 29. 2-0 to Brady
2nd end Brady uncharacteristically shot an 8 and a 7 for 24 - Kim got the nerves mostly under control shooting 2 10's and an 8. 2-2
3rd end Kim shooting well just couldn't find the 10 ring - 27. Brady had no such trouble - 29. 4-2 to Brady
4th end A chance to put it away but a wobble from Brady resulted in an 8. Kim sensing blood shoots 29. 4-4
5th end With the atmosphere electric, both archers dug deep and went for it ... 10 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 10. Both scored perfect 30's. 5-5 One arrow shoot off for gold.
Kim shot first hitting a 10 just inside the ring to the left. Brady shot with the arrow drifting the same way as Kim's clipping the 10 ring. Kim closer to the centre by 5mm!
Frankly this match was perfect. Its no exaggeration to say .. the best gold medal match ever.16 arrows each and the difference was 5mm - the width of an arrow. Brady has said he "didn't lose the gold, he won the silver" ... but yet, almost anti-climatically, Gold and Bronze to Korea
It's now up on you tube if you want to watch ... Video here

To sum up: Korea, while not being completely written off in pre competition predictions, were being viewed as lacking the experience required to dominate. Bow International's "pro-celebrity" predictions highlighted how this was the rest of the World's time to shine with only a third or so predicting Korean victories. It is obvious that Team Korea were not the steely eyed assassins of earlier Olympics but nor were they nervy noobs. Yes, they had flaws. The ruthless efficiency seemed missing. Yet they overcame those flaws to take every single goddamn gold medal in the Paris Olympics in the face of the rest of the World trying to stop them. Every Korean archer came home with a gold medal. Two came home with three. It could be argued the results were a bit predictable, more same old same old, even boring .. but hells bells, the journey to get to those results was pretty damn good.