Paired with reticent teammate, brash teen archer backs up medal talk with dominant performance
Kim Je-deok talked the talk and walked the walk.
The 17-year-old archer from South Korea teamed up with An San for the inaugural Olympic gold in the mixed team event in Tokyo on Saturday, about 24 hours after declaring his goal of winning three medals here. They beat the Dutch tandem of Gabriela Schloesser and Steve Wijler by the set score of 5-3.
Kim earned the chance to represent the country in the mixed event by winning the individual ranking round on Friday. He didn’t specify the color of the medals he wanted to win that day, but it was clear from the tone of his voice and the confident look on his face, barely concealed by the mask, that Kim wanted nothing less than gold.
It could have been dismissed as needlessly brash comments from a teenager who had no idea what he was getting himself into. After all, this was Kim’s first Olympics. What could he possibly have known about the pressure cooker of the Olympics?
If Kim’s performance Saturday is to be any indication, maybe experience is overrated.
In the semifinals against Mexico, Kim hit 10 with his final four arrows. He had three more in the final, never once hitting anything less than a 9 in the last two matches.
In comparison, An San sounded as though she didn’t think she belonged at the top of the ranking round on Friday, despite setting an Olympic record score with 680 points.
An repeatedly said she would just concentrate on giving her best effort and letting the rest take care of itself. It might have been An’s way of deflecting pressure. She certainly didn’t look out of place in the run to the gold medal on Saturday.
An hit a couple of 8s in the final, but took advantage of an opening given by Wijler’s disastrous 6 in the third set.
It was An’s final 9 that clinched the gold medal for South Korea.
Much has been made about the depth of the archery talent pool in South Korea, and it’s become a cliche to say making the South Korean Olympic team is more difficult than winning an Olympic medal.
But this much is clear. Kim and An both outperformed teammates with far more international credentials to get to the mixed team event, and then prove their mettle on the biggest stage.
Kim said before the Olympics that the person he admires the most in archery is Kim Woo-jin, his current teammate and a 2016 Olympic champion.
Soon enough, Kim Je-deok will have his own admirers.
