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Lim Si-hyeon (left) and Kim Woo-jin of South Korea prepare for the start of the archery mixed team final against Germany at the Paris Olympics at Invalides in Paris on Friday. (Yonhap) |
PARIS --Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyeon joined forces for the mixed team gold medal in archery at the Paris Olympics on Friday, South Korea's third archery gold and seventh gold overall in France.
Kim and Lim defeated Germany by the set score of 6-0 at Invalides in the French capital.
Kim and Lim had earlier helped the men's and women's teams win gold medals in Paris. They joined sabre fencer Oh Sang-uk as two of three double gold medalists for South Korea here.
Kim and Lim will each have a shot at winning their third gold medal in the individual competition.
The mixed team event was added to the archery competition at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Kim Je-deok and An San of South Korea won the inaugural gold medal then, and Kim and Lim followed suit Friday.
This was Kim's fourth career Olympic gold, tying him with three others for the most by a South Korean Olympian.
In the mixed team event, each archer takes two arrows per set, for a total of four arrows and a maximum of 40 points per set for each team. Teams earn two points for a set win and one point for a tie. The goal is to reach five points by the fourth set.
In case of a tie, the teams go to a sudden-death shoot-off, with each archer taking one arrow to determine the winner.
Kim and Lim started their day in the round of 16, and the gold medal match was the first one in which they did not lose a set.
In the final, South Korea took the first set over Florian Unruh and Michelle Kroppen of Germany. Lim started off with an 8 but Kim backed her up with a 10. The Germans went 8-9 with their first two arrows, unable to take advantage of the slight opening offered by South Korea. Lim and Kim then both hits 10s to win the first set 38-35.
Lim hit another 8 in the second set, but South Korea eked out a 36-35 win there to go up 4-0.
With the backs against the wall, the Germans started the third set with an 8 by Kroppen and a 10 by Unruh. Lim and Kim went 8-9, giving Germany some life.
But then Kroppen hit a 7. Unruh's 10 was not enough, as Lim and Kim hit a 9 and a 10 to cap off their win. (Yonhap)
