A valuable silver medal! Park Ha-joon and Geum Ji-hyun in the 10m mixed shooting, harvesting the first medal in South Korea!

Jul 27, 2024

South Korean shooting shot the first medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Park Ha-joon (KT) and Geum Ji-hyun (Gyeonggi Provincial Office) won a valuable silver medal after China, losing 12-16 in the gold medal match in the 10-meter air rifle mixed at Chatoru Shooting Center in France on the 27th (Korea time). Park Ha-joon and Geum Ji-hyun gave the South Korean squad its first medal and silver medal. Park Ha-joon and Geum Ji-hyun reached the gold medal match, finishing second with 631.4 points in the finals.

Korean shooting has been a regular player in the first Olympic medal. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Yeo Gap-soon won her first medal for the Korean team by winning an unexpected gold medal in the women's 10m air rifle event, and Kang Cho-hyun, a high school student at the time, won her first medal with an unexpected silver medal in the same event at the 2000 Sydney Games. At the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Games, the 'Shooting Emperor' Jin Jong-oh gave the Korean team its first medal with a silver medal and a gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol event, respectively.

This time, I looked forward to the 10-meter mixed air rifle event. Among the events in which the South Korean team participates, the first medal was decided in terms of time was the air rifle mixed 10m event.

It wasn't just about time. South Korea's shooting, which is aiming for one gold, two silver and three bronze medals, judged that the 10-meter mixed air rifle event was competitive enough considering the recent rise of athletes. He played a game-winner. Park Ha-joon and Ban Ki-hyun formed a combination. Initially, it was expected that men's rifle ace Park Ha-joon and Ban Hyo-jin (Daegu Sports High School) would pair up, but experienced Ban Ki-hyun changed members in good condition locally. The two have collaborated on a gold medal at the 2022 Baku World Cup.

The 10-meter air rifle mixed event was changed at the Paris Olympics. In the first round of the stage, eight teams with high combined scores will advance to the second round with 30 shots each from men and women, and unlike the Tokyo Games, where the gold and bronze finals were held through Stage 2 records, Stage 1 will be able to compete in the gold medal match. At the last Tokyo Games, Kwon Eun-ji and Nam Tae-yoon ranked second in Stage 1. According to Paris rules, he could reach the gold medal match. However, he stayed in third place in Stage 2 and played in the bronze medal match.

The effect of the changed regulations was significant. Park Ha-joon and Geum Ji-hyun scored 631.4 points, making it to the gold medal match in second place behind the Chinese group, which shot 632.2. Park Ha-joon and Geum Ji-hyun finished first with a total of 211.1 points in the one-series of 10-shot shots. Until the second series, it remained in first place with a total of 421.3 points, but in the last three series, it allowed China to come from behind to finish the finals with 631.4 points.

The gold medal match was followed by a tight race. In the medal match, the male and female athletes fired one shot each, and the scores were summed up, and the high team took two points, and the low team only scored zero points. If it's a tie, you'll get one point each. In this way, the team that reaches 16 points first wins. South Korea took the lead first. However, he soon allowed the reversal. South Korea, which continued to allow scores, finally failed to catch up. But I won a valuable silver medal.

vanbasten@sportschosun.com