2 genius female archers and their whim of fate

Ki Bo-bae (28·Gwangju City), a female archer from the Korean national archery team, has been included in the list of the 50 most notable athletes, which was announced by the Organizing Committee of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, along with international sports stars such as Neymar Jr. (Football·Brazil) and Usain Bolt (Track and field·Jamaica). Having earned two gold medals in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London (individual and group divisions), Ki is aiming at winning the individual title for the second consecutive time in the 2016 Rio Olympics Games.

Korean female archers have never missed a gold medal in Olympics, winning the title for the seven consecutive times since archery was included in official Olympic sports in 1988. But no archer has won individual titles for two Olympics in a row.

Despite the world class performance of the women’s national archery team, however, Korea has so far been unable to reach the milestone because it is difficult for a player to participate in the Olympics for the second consecutive time. In fact, it is said that passing the selection test for Korean national team is harder than winning gold medals in the Olympic Games.

The biggest hurdle that Ki Bo-bae is facing at the moment is none other than Choi Mi-sun, the youngest member of the Korean national squad. World No.1 Choi won at the Recurve Women’s Gold Final of the 2016 Archery World Cup Stage 3 on Sunday in Antalya, Turkey. She is proving herself to be in elite form, having earned three gold medals for two competitions in a row, following her dominance in Stage 2.

“I am feeling great, and I am in my best form," Choi said. "I am sure I will be able to get great results in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games." World No. 2 Ki Bo-bae showed less than impressive performance, having advanced only to the quarter-finals in the individual session both on Stage 2 and 3.

On the other hand, Choi boasted overwhelming performance, trouncing the opponents by 6-0 and 7-1, respectively on the finals of Stage 2 and 3. In April, she finished the final test to select the national squad for the Rio Olympics with the best score. While Ki earned an extra two points from her world championship title last year, Choi outperformed Ki in the final result by 15 to 14.

이종석기자 wing@donga.com