South Korea enjoyed a strong day five in the London Olympics, striking gold in shooting, judo and fencing on Wednesday.
The country rose to third place in the Games with six gold, two silver and four bronze medals, behind China and the U.S.
Teen shooter Kim Jang-mi first sounded the golden signal, winning the women’s 25-meter pistol. The 19-year-old world champion shot 792.4 points in total, including 201.4 in the final, and took her country’s fourth gold medal of the Games. It was also the second shooting gold after teammate Jin Jong-oh took the men’s 10m air pistol.
Kim is the first South Korean woman to claim an Olympic shooting gold since the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
Less than an hour later, news on another gold medal arrived from the men’s judo arena.
Song Dae-nam, 33, claimed South Korea’s second judo gold, beating Asley Gonzalez of Cuba in golden score, extra period, in the under-90 kg class. His victory came a day after Kim Jae-bum took the country’s first judo gold of the Games.
Song, who had competed in the under-81 kg category, failed to make the national Olympic squad twice before his first and only Olympics in London. The judo victor has said he won’t travel to Rio for the next Games.
In November 2010, he had career-threatening knee ligament surgery, which darkened his Olympic contention prospects. But despite his old age for a judoka, he took a chance by raising his weight class, and finally fulfilled his long-cherished dream of an Olympic gold.
South Korea’s golden run Wednesday was completed in women’s fencing.
South Korean fencer Kim Ji-yeon (left) receives a kiss from Ukraine’s bronze medalist Olga Kharlan after winning Korea’s first fencing gold medal in the women’s sabre individual event at the 2012 London Olympics on Wednesday.(Ahn Hoon/The Korea Herald)
Kim Ji-yeon, little known on the international stage, took the gold medal in the sabre individual fencing after defeating Sofya Velikaya of Russia in the final.
Before her victory, the silver won by Nam Hyun-hee in Beijing four years ago was the only Olympic medal that South Korean women fencers have ever captured.
On another piste, teammate Jung Jin-sun took the bronze medal in the men’s epee individual fencing. It was the first time since the 2000 Sydney Games for a South Korean fencer to step on the podium in the event.
The gold haul stole the show from yet another major accomplishment that day. The men’s football team advanced to the quarterfinal round for the third time after the 1948 London and the 2004 Athens Olympics.
It drew scoreless with Gabon to reach the round of 8 in second place of Group B behind Mexico in first.
South Korea is scheduled to clash with host Britain, which topped Group A, at 3:30 a.m. Korean time this Sunday.
The women’s volleyball team in its quest for its first medal in 36 years pulled a shock upset over world No. 2―ranked Brazil.
In the Group B preliminary round play, Kim Yeon-koung and Han Song-yi led their team attacks in a 3-0 shutout (25-23, 25-21, 25-21) of the 2008 Olympic champion.
The victory placed South Korea in a tie for second place with China in Group B, topped by the U.S.
But bad news came along with the good for the South Korean delegation.
Two pairs competing in women’s badminton doubles were disqualified from the Olympics on charges of throwing their groupstage matches Tuesday. The pairs, consisting of Jung Kyung-min and Kim Ha-na, and Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung, had qualified for the quarters, but their dream is over.
Two other teams, one from China and the other from Indonesia, were also disqualified on the same charge by the Badminton World Federation.
Favorite weightlifter and 2008 gold medalist Sa Jae-hyouk failed to make the medal round after breaking his right arm during a snatch attempt.
By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldm.com)
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
