Kim Su-Nyeong
South Korea
Archery
Overall Ranks
#1 among Korean Olympians
#1 among Archers
Olympic Results
1988
Individual - Gold
Team - Gold
1992
Individual - Silver
Team - Gold
2000
Individual - Bronze
Team - Gold
Kim Su-Nyeong was born on April 5, 1971 in Chungcheongbuk, South Korea, and took up archery at a very early age, and was a phenom. When she was only 17 years old, she made the Korean Olympic team, already a tough feat, but what she did in Seoul was even more impressive.
In the individual event, which consisted of 144 arrows, she set a new world record with a score of 1331, 33 points ahead of any other archer. The next 4 rounds each consisted of 36 arrows, and Kim improved her score in each round, starting with a 331 in the first round, and ending with a 344 in the final round, 12 points ahead of any other archer, giving her a dominant gold medal at age 17.
In the team event, each nation was represented by 3 archers, which made South Korea the huge favorite, since they won all 3 medals in the individual event. Each archer shot 36 arrows per round, for a total of 108 per nation, and after scoring 1000 in the first round, they won the gold in the final with a score of 982, 30 points ahead of the runners-up, Indonesia and the USA.
Kim won the next 2 World Championships, and was a heavy favorite to repeat as champion in Barcelona. In the individual ranking round, her teammate, Jo Yun-Jeong, broke the world record by scoring 1375, 11 points ahead of Kim. The rest of the event was held in single-elimination matches of 12 arrows. Kim won her first three matches by at least 10 points, which put her in the semifinal round.
In the semifinal, she faced Wang Xiaozhu of China, and it went right down to the wire, with Kim pulling out the victory by a single point on the last arrow. She advanced to the final, where she would face Jo, but this time she fell short, losing 112-105 to her teammate to end up with a silver medal.
They were again heavily favored in the team event, and they won their first match easily, but then were given a bit of a surprise by Sweden, who tied with them in the quarterfinal, before the Koreans won in a shootout. They didn't let that happen again, as they beat France by 25 in the semifinal, and China by 8 in the final to take the gold medal again.
Kim retired after the 1992 Olympics, at age 21, to marry and raise two children, but she unretired in 1999, hoping to return to the Olympics in 2000, which she achieved. In the individual event ranking round, which was now just 72 arrows, she had the best score, with 671. The first three tournament rounds consisted of 18 arrows each, and Kim had no trouble getting through those to the quarterfinals.
Starting in that round, each match was just 12 arrow. She won her quarterfinal match by 6 points, the largest margin in that round, which put her up against Yun Mi-Jin, also of South Korea, in the semifinal. The match was close, but Kim fell short by 2 points, while Yun went on to win gold. Kim faced Choe Ok-Sil of North Korea for the bronze, and came out victorious, 103-101.
With all 3 medalists in the individual event, the Koreans were again the favorites in the team event by a large margin, and they lived up to that, winning all 3 of their matches by at least 12 points, giving them an easy gold medal, the 4th that Kim had won in her Olympic career.
Soon after that triumphant Olympic return, Kim retired for good. She is widely regarded as the greatest archer of all time, and I agree. She won medals in all 6 events in which she competed, won 4 gold medals, and held the world record at every single distance before her first retirement. Add that all together, and you have one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
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