Kim Jong-ho wins historic individual compound archery gold at Asian Games

By Yoo Jee-ho

OKAZAKI, Japan, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- Compound archer Kim Jong-ho could barely sleep Wednesday night, thinking he had cost South Korea a chance to win the men's team gold medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. He had shot two 8s in the semifinal loss to India and one more 8 in a loss to Chinese Taipei in the bronze medal match. In compound archery, where athletes have the benefit of mechanical release aids and magnified sights, an 8 is rare at a high-level competition.

Some 24 hours later, though, Kim held himself together long enough to capture the gold medal in the individual event at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Multipurpose Square in Okazaki, some 50 kilometers southeast of the main host city, Nagoya. He defeated Chang Cheng-Wei of Chinese Taipei 149-145, falling just one point shy of a perfect score in the 15-arrow battle held over five ends.

Kim, 32, is the first South Korean male compound archer to win an Asiad individual gold, a feat that he called "an honor" to accomplish.

"I just tried to focus on one arrow at a time. I was so nervous that I kept my head down and stared at my feet between shots," Kim said. "I could not sleep last night. My head hurt so much because I felt terrible about the way I performed yesterday. But I decided I could not afford to compete in the individual event in that mindset because this could well be the last Asian Games of my career. I told myself, 'Let's just go for it.'"

Even after winning the biggest prize, Kim cut an apologetic figure, saying he was sorry to have delivered just one gold medal from the compound competition when the goal had been to sweep all five titles -- men's and women's individual and team events, plus the mixed team event. South Korea finished the compound portion of archery here with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.

Kim also admitted he was so stressed out about his event that he had an upset stomach after lunch. However, once he stepped on the field, he began to feel better.

"I was not nervous at all. I started feeling pretty confident in my chances," Kim said. "I felt comfortable even in the windy conditions out there today. I am proud of having overcome my share of challenges."

If Kim was still dealing with stomach issues in the final, it would have been impossible to tell. He missed the perfect 10 just once with his 15 arrows against Chang and finished the final with 12 consecutive 10s.

"I tried to stay focused on one arrow at a time, but I did get a bit conscious of my gold medal chances before the final end," Kim said. "I thought if I was going to win the gold, it would be so much cooler to do it with three straight 10s than three 9s."

Asked if he will be able to sleep better Thursday night, Kim said, "I am not so sure. I think I am an insomniac right now."

"This is a sport where you cannot really express your emotions outwardly, even if you get upset with yourself. These bottled-up feelings can cause headaches," Kim said. "It is not just me. I am sure other athletes have trouble sleeping at night. I think I will probably have a better night's sleep, but I cannot get the team competition out of my mind right now. If I ever get another chance with this same group, I want to shoot better scores for them."

Following the end of compound, the archery competition will continue Friday with recurve, where South Korea will seek to sweep all five gold medals up for grabs.

"I hope our recurve archers will pick up where I left off here," Kim said. "I also feel compound archers back home who watched me will feel inspired from my gold medal."