This March, 7, 2024, photo provided by the Korea Archery Association shows South Korean archer An San. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Mar. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — An San, who captured three gold medals in archery for South Korea at the 2021 Summer Olympics, will not have a chance to defend her titles in Paris this year.
An was eliminated at the midway point of the third stage of the 2024 national team trials Monday in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers southwest of Seoul. Three years after winning gold medals in the women’s individual, women’s team and mixed team events in Tokyo, An, 23, will not be traveling to France.
There are six rounds in the third stage, featuring 24 male and 24 female archers — 20 men and 20 women who survived the first two stages, joined by four male and four female archers who were on the national team in 2023.
Only the top 16 out of the 24 in the men’s and women’s competitions through three rounds stayed alive, and An ranked 21st at that point.
At the conclusion of the sixth round Thursday, the top eight male and the top eight female archers will make their respective national teams for the 2024 season. For the Olympics, however, two more qualification rounds await them in March and April, with only the top three from each side earning tickets to Paris.
Through three rounds in the current stage, Lim Si-hyeon, a triple gold medalist at last year’s Asian Games, is leading all female archers.
On the men’s side, Kim Woo-jin, Kim Je-deok and Oh Jin-hyek, who combined for the men’s team gold medal in Tokyo, ranked first, second and fourth through three rounds.
An’s early elimination illustrates the inherent volatility of archery and also South Korea’s depth in the sport. She isn’t the first Olympic champion to miss out on title defense and likely won’t be the last. Chang Hye-jin won two Olympic gold medals in 2016 but was knocked out early in the 2021 Olympic trials.
(Yonhap)
