Thursday, a day of golds for Korea

Thursday will be the day that Korea's thirst for gold is alleviated.

Korea's gold medal target for the Sydney Olympics is 12. If everything had gone according to schedule, a gold medal would have been secured on the first day, but until Wednesday, only the women's individual archery event won a gold medal, breaking the spirit of the Korean team.

However, starting Thursday the gold medal drought is anticipated to end and a parade of gold medals may follow. The Korean team expected 4 gold medals Thursday but with the loss of the women's doubles badminton team, which was deemed a definite winner, in the quarterfinals, the number has fallen to 3. The most dependable contender for gold is the women's archery team competition, in which Korea boasts the strongest team. As the three competitors who took all three medals in the individual contest will be participating, unless a major disaster occurs, the gold is basically in their pocket.

Men's badminton doubles is another event where the gold medal cannot be lost. With the loss of the Ha Tae-Kwon/Kim Dong-Moon team in the semi's, there was some uneasiness, but with Lee Dong-Soo/Yoo Yong-Sung having reached the final against Indonesia's team of Tony Gunawan/Candra Wijaya, the world's top team, there is some consolation. The Lee-Yoo team has beaten the Indonesian team at the Korean Open and hence has a psychological edge.

In addition, Jang Sung-Ho is expected to preserve the last remnants of pride by winning the gold in the 100kg class and over Judo competition. Being 1.90m tall, Jang's greatest obstacle will be Kosei Inoue of Japan, who Jang lost to in the world championship finals. However, since his loss to Inoue, he has concentrated for the last year in training against him and is full of confidence.