The Korean women’s archery team, consisting of Im Si-hyeon, Jeon Hoon-young, and Nam Su-hyeon, achieved the feat of winning the team event 10 times in a row at the Paris Olympics last month. They have never missed the top spot since the team event was first adopted as an official event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, 36 years ago. Im Si-hyeon, the ace of the women’s team, also won gold medals in the mixed and individual events, making her a triple crown winner. Now, at just 21 years old, Im Si-hyeon has a new nickname of “divine archer.”
Every time Korean archery hosts the Olympics, a new archer is born. In the previous Olympics, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Ansan won three gold medals and earned the honorable nickname of “Shingung.” Park Sung-hyun, Yoon Mi-jin, and Ki Bo-bae also won three Olympic gold medals each.
However, there is someone who has the biggest share in Korea’s 10 consecutive Olympic victories. It is the ‘original archer’ Kim Soo-nyung (53). Kim Soo-nyung, who won the team gold medal three times, said, “When I met them at the World Cup held in Yecheon, Gyeongbuk in May, it seemed like our young athletes were under a lot of pressure,” and added, “I am so glad that they overcame that burden and continued to show good results. They are truly great and amazing.”
![Kim Soo-nyung, the ‘original archer’ who finished her ’10-year vacation in Saudi Arabia’, “Let’s share the fun of archery together”[이헌재의 인생홈런]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/09/02/126801811.1.jpg "Kim Soo-nyung, the ‘original archer’ who finished her ’10-year vacation in Saudi Arabia’, “Let’s share the fun of archery together”[이헌재의 인생홈런]")
Kim Soo-nyung, then a high school student, took the first step toward winning 10 consecutive gold medals in women’s archery by winning a gold medal together with Wang Hee-kyung and Yoon Young-sook in the team event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Kim Soo-nyung also won a gold medal in the individual event at the same competition, becoming a two-time champion.
At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she played a leading role in winning the second gold medal in the team event for Korean women’s archery, along with Cho Yoon-jung and Lee Eun-kyung. In the individual event, she won a silver medal, following Cho Yoon-jung. He was only in his early 20s when he retired after that competition. Having already won three Olympic gold medals and one silver medal was enough to be called a “new archer.”
After graduating from college, Kim Soo-nyung got married and became a mother of two. She seemed to be living as a full-time housewife, but she suddenly declared a comeback ahead of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. At the time, a domestic company that made bows asked her to participate in domestic and international competitions to promote their bows, and she lightly accepted the offer. However, even though it had been several years since she had put down her bow, her “Shingung” talent did not go away. She achieved good results in every competition she entered, and she easily passed the national team selection, which was said to be more difficult than the Olympic gold medal.
The result was a gold medal in the team event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Competing with Kim Nam-soon and Yoon Mi-jin, she won her fourth gold medal and third in the team event. She also added a bronze medal in the individual event, making her the Korean athlete with the most Olympic medals (four golds, one silver, and one bronze). Kim Soo-nyung said, “The medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics was just because I liked archery, so I started promoting it, and it led to good results,” and added, “I didn’t think much about the most Olympic medals I’ve ever won. Recently, I’ve come to realize that I was a pretty good athlete.”
After his second retirement, he worked as a broadcast commentator and for international organizations such as the World Archery Federation (WA). He lived in Saudi Arabia for 10 years from 2014 to this year. He was a private instructor teaching archery to princesses of the Saudi royal family.
At that time, the Saudi Arabian government requested the Korean Embassy to recommend a female archery instructor to teach the princesses, and the Korea Archery Association recommended several candidates through an internal competition. The person who was ultimately selected was none other than Kim Soo-nyung.
He said, “I think many conditions were a good fit for me. They wanted a woman over 30 years old and a coach who had experience as a professional athlete. English was also a prerequisite. I worked as an intern at the World Archery Federation in Lausanne, Switzerland for two years, and my English skills were a great help.”
Life in Saudi Arabia, which might be boring to some, suited him well. First of all, he had a lot of free time. As a tutor to only two princesses, he could have personal time on days when he didn’t have classes.
He said, “I’m the type of person who is good at being alone. When I go shopping and meet people, the day goes by so quickly. I hardly have time to be bored. In some ways, you could say I had the biggest vacation of my life in 10 years,” and laughed. He also said, “Fortunately, I’m not picky about food, so I ate well and lived well in Saudi Arabia. I bought ingredients and cooked Korean food, and I also ate lamb, which is famous locally. There were also many kinds of Middle Eastern desserts, and they were delicious.”
During his stay, there were quite a few changes in Saudi Arabia. When he went to Saudi Arabia, women were not allowed to drive or exercise outside. However, as time went by, women’s freedom gradually increased, and now it is easy to find women driving.
He could have bought a car and driven it, but he didn’t. The roads were still dangerous and driving was dangerous, and in his area, he could walk to the market and other places. When absolutely necessary, he would take a taxi or Uber.
Originally, there was no public transportation, but a year before I returned to Korea, a bus opened and I was able to ride it several times. The subway under construction is said to be in a test run. He said, “It is obviously inconvenient for Koreans, who have developed public transportation. However, from the perspective of locals, it is not unbearably uncomfortable or strange.” He added, “Anyway, when it comes to public transportation, there seems to be no place in the world that is as comfortable and convenient as Korea.”
After returning to Korea and taking a short break to meet people she hadn’t seen before, Kim Soo-nyeong recently started doing what she loves the most and is good at: sharing the fun and joy of archery with others.
For some time now, he has been going to work at the archery experience facility ‘Shooting Zone Archery Cafe Survival’ located in Osan, Gyeonggi Province.
This facility is operated by domestic archery equipment company Pivox, where you can enjoy archery experiences and survival archery. Pivox is the company that sponsors Asrael Madaya, an archer from Chad, who caught attention by shooting a point in the match against Woojin Kim in the round of 64 of the men’s individual event at the Paris Olympics. Pivox decided to sponsor Madaya, who taught himself archery through YouTube without proper equipment, until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
As word of mouth spread that Kim Soo-nyung works here, more and more people are visiting here. Kim Soo-nyung said, “As Korean athletes are achieving good results at the Paris Olympics, my name is often mentioned in articles. I am also seeing the effects of the Olympics,” and “Many people of all ages, from children to people in their 70s, come here. I help them enjoy archery more.”
Old fans are very happy to meet him, who was once called the best archer and the new archer. Young people who don’t know him well often ask for a photo shoot if they see his name on TV or in newspaper articles. Kim Soo-nyung said, “I’m not a full-time employee, but I work as a freelancer and part-timer. I teach ordinary people how to shoot arrows and help them correct their posture.” She added, “I mostly worked on weekends in July and August, but I think I’ll be going out a lot more often starting this month.”
He also said, “I haven’t been able to exercise much since I was in Saudi Arabia. But when I work here, I have to stand all day and move around a lot. Thanks to that, I’ve regained a little bit of my youthful self,” and “If there’s anything I can do to share the fun and enjoyment of archery, I’ll be happy to do it.”
2024-09-02 05:16:40