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Kim Ye-ji of South Korea waves to the crowd before the start of the women's 10-meter air pistol shooting final on Friday at the Paris Olympics at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, France. (Yonhap) |
A lot of athletes would love to be in Kim Ye-ji's position Sunday, with an Olympic silver medal around her neck.
But Kim, after grabbing silver behind fellow South Korean Oh Ye-jin in the women's 10-meter air pistol at the Paris Olympics, didn't fly to France to finish in second place.
"I am really disappointed," Kim said afterward at Chateauroux Shooting Centre in Chateauroux, south of Paris, though the ebullient athlete didn't look the part. "My goal was to win a gold medal here no matter what. I am sorry that I didn't get it done."
To her credit, Kim, 31, just lost to a better shooter on this day. Kim's score of 241.3 points would have been an Olympic record. Oh, a 19-year-old who caught lightning in a bottle, put up 243.2 points on the board for the new Olympic mark.
But Kim will have two more opportunities for a gold medal she so craves. She will be in the 10m air pistol mixed team event Monday, and her main event, 25m pistol, is set for Friday. Kim is the world record holder in that event.
"I am always confident," Kim said. "At worst, I will try to win one gold medal."
As devastated as she was at not being able to get it done Sunday, Kim said she was buoyed by the emergence of a young shooter like Oh.
"We need to have more and more young athletes like her to ensure our sport will continue to develop," Kim said. "And more people will take interest in shooting, and more people will start picking up the sport. And maybe we will have a young shooter like Ye-jin come out of nowhere and win an Olympic medal. It could happen to anyone." (Yonhap)
