US coach in awe of 'unbeatable' Korean archers in Beijing

7th September 2009, 21:05

The Koreans have dominated the Olympic competition since the 1980s when team events were added to individual competitions for the first time, raising the number of golds at stake to four.

South Korea has won every gold medal in the women's archery since the 1984 Games. Park Sung-Hyun is the reigning Olympic champion while Yun Ok-Hee set a world record of 119 points

"South Korean women are at such a high level they feel that even if they miss with an arrow, they can always get it back with the next one," said Lee Ki-Sik, himself a Korean who coached his countrymen until the 1996 Olympics.

"It's like they are adults shooting with elementary school children. No one can beat them with that kind of confidence."

South Korea's men are also dominant and are aiming for a hat-trick of Olympic team titles in Beijing after triumphing at Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004.

The title missing for them is in the individual event.

Lee said the men's competition was more open.

"South Korea are the best but the gap is closing. And this is the Olympics so anything can happen," he said.

The world number one is Korea's Im Dong-Hyun, but he has a number of strong rivals including Athens champion Marco Galiazzo of Italy and world number two Baljinima Tsyrempilov from Russia.

From the telegraph.co.uk








The competition starts on Saturday.