17-year-old Korean archeress grabs gold

It was a story Korea had already seen 12 years ago, a virtual coup by a 17-year-old in archery.

Kim Soo-Nyung, the Cinderella success who swept the individual and team events in women's archery in the 1988 Seoul Olympics at the age of 17, passed the mantly to Yun Mi-Jin, 17, of Kyunggi Physical Education High School.

Teenager Yun, who at her age seemed to have nothing to lose, shot her arrows with less of a burden and beat her senior teammates in the semifinal and final, thus enabling her to stand atop the winner's podium.

In contrast, veterans Kim Soo-Nyung and Kim Nam-Soon carried the baggage of years of expectations into the competition.

Kim Soo-Nyung, a world-famous archer making a brilliant comeback, was on a winning streak, but the ¡°venomous snake¡± faltered she confronted Yun in the semifinal. She shot only seven points in the first end, proving her nerves had become unsettled.

After shooting nine arrows of the total 12, the two were tied at 80, and Kim looked rigid with tension. Kim is famous for demonstrating her high concentration in the last stage, yet she stumbled, scoring only eight, eight and nine points in the last three shootings.

But Yun showed her boldness by hitting the bull's eye twice with her last two arrows, after shooting seven points in her 10th attempt.

Then, Yun met Kim Nam-Soon for the coveted gold medal. When the 11th arrows were shot, Yun was leading just by one point with 98, making it unclear who would be the winner.

After a deep breath, Yun shot her last arrow, hitting the nine-point mark to make it 107-106 to win the gold medal.

With the Sydney victory, Korea dominated the women's individual event in the Olympic Games for the fifth consecutive time starting from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Three of the five gold medallists in the individual competition were high school girls. They are Suh Hyang-Soon at the Los Angeles Olympics, Kim Soo-Nyung at the Seoul Olympics and Yun Mi-Jin.