Driven by controversy, S. Korean fencers enjoy record medal haul

Published : Aug 5, 2012 - 09:52 Updated : Aug 5, 2012 - 09:57

Fueled by an officiating controversy centered on one of their own, South Korean fencers enjoyed a week to remember at the London Olympics as they snapped up a record number of medals.

South Korean swordsmen and women picked up six medals in London, more than at any of the previous Olympics. The old record for South Korean fencers was two from Sydney in 2000.

So how did this all happen?

Their Olympics actually began on a down note. Nam Hyun-hee, reigning Olympic silver medalist in women's individual foil, was expected to get the ball rolling for the delegation, with her event scheduled first on July 28. But she blew big leads in both the semifinal and the bronze medal contest, and walked away with no medal.

South Korean fencer Shin A-lam poses at the award ceremony after winning silver medal in the women`s team epee at the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Yonhap News)

None of three South Korean male sabre fencers made it past the round of 16 the following day. But their misfortunes paled in comparison with what epee fencer Shin A-lam had to go through on July 30.

Shin battled Britta Heidemann of Germany into extra time in their semifinal bout. They were knotted at 5-5, but because Shin had received "priority" for being the more aggressive fencer, the tied score would have sent Shin to the final.

But Heidemann earned the decisive sixth point in the dying moments and Shin's side argued, ultimately to no avail, that the clock should have run down before the final hit.

With one second left on the clock, the two fencers had three simultaneous hits. Though epee fencing awards points for simultaneous touches, Shin and Heidemann were engaged in sudden death extra time and needed the clear first touch.

Simultaneous hits in fencing automatically stop the clock. The South Koreans argued that those three exchanges couldn't have taken place in a span of one second and the bout should've been over. But the clock never moved.

South Korea's Shin A Lam reacts during the women's epee Team semifinals against team USA as part of the fencing event of London 2012 Olympic games, on August 4, 2012 at the ExCel centre in London. (AFP-Yonhap News)

Following the third exchange, the clock went down to zero and then was reset to the one-second mark in an apparent timekeeping error. After Shin and Heidemann finally resumed their stance with one second left, Heidemann lunged in for her clinching hit.

The teary Shin staged a sit-down protest, not ready to accept her defeat by leaving the piste, before being escorted away after an hour. The International Fencing Federation (FIE) rejected South Korea's appeal because it couldn't "change a question of fact."

Hindsight being 20/20, however, that incident turned out to be the classic blessing in disguise for the rest of the fencers, because it inspired other South Korean fencers to the great heights they had never scaled before.

Choi Byung-chul in men's foil was the first to hit the piste after the Shin controversy and captured a surprising bronze. Then the following day, Kim Ji-yeon came out of nowhere to win the women's individual sabre gold, becoming the first South Korean woman to win an Olympic fencing title. Jung Jin-sun won bronze in men's individual epee on the same day.

The medal streak extended into Thursday, when Nam regrouped to lead the foil team to the bronze. Then the male sabre fencers routed the Romanians for the team gold medal.

And Shin provided the neat bookend to the historic fencing run, helping the women's epee team to a surprising silver medal on Saturday for the country's sixth and final fencing medal here.

To a man, medalists said they wanted to win one for Shin, who they felt was robbed of a chance to go for the gold medal.

"The incident really brought us closer as a team," said Choi In-jeong, Shin's epee teammate. "We were more motivated than before to prove that we could win an Olympic medal."

Choi Byung-chul, the men's foil bronze medalist, said he was so upset watching Shin's demise that he "almost cried." He also said he believed Shin was the winner of that match, no matter what the final results showed.

Lee Wook-jae, coach of the men's sabre team, said his fencers were also determined to do something to cheer up Shin.

"We happened to face Germany (Heidemann's native country) for our first match," Lee said. "I think that gave our guys extra motivation from the start."

Shin got herself a real medal on Saturday. In the aftermath of the debacle, international fencing officials offered her a special medal for her display of sportsmanship.

Shin has seemed reluctant to accept it because, in her own words, "I've done nothing special."

But after missing out on an individual medal, standing on the podium with her teammates was a special experience, Shin said.

"If I had to pick one over the other between an individual and a team medal, I'd definitely go for the team medal," she said Saturday. "We've all worked hard together, and I am pleased to have won this medal as a team." (Yonhap News)