Archery 2024 Paris Olympics Review

Men’s Individual 

As always, the ranking round was dominated by the South Koreans. Kim Woo-Jin (South Korea) led ahead of Kim Je-deok (South Korea). Lee Woo-seok (South Korea) scored the most X’s when qualifying fifth while Mete Gazoz (Turkey) scored the next most but only qualified eighth. The top quarter largely went as expected, aside from Nicholas D’Amour (British Virgin Islands) being upset, to set up some brilliant third round contests. Erik Peters (Canada) beat fourth seed Dhiraj Bommadevara (India) and Tom Hall (Great Britain) advanced to the round of sixteen from seed 51. The standout round of sixteen match saw Gazoz overcome Thomas Chirault (France) in a shootout having been 5-3 down. Both Woo-seok and Woo-jin won 6-4 to make the semi final, while Florian Unruh (Germany) edged Baptiste Addis (France) in a shootout by virtue of a closer ten. The most impressive performance came as Brady Ellison (United States) scored 87 points over three sets to beat blank Je-deok to nil. Woo-jin beat compatriot Woo-seok in a shootout to make the final. It was another 87 from Ellison but Unruh held on to only trail 5-1. Ellison lost the fourth set; but a fifth set 29 took him to the gold medal matchup. Woo-seok beat Unruh 6-0 to confirm bronze. In the final, all but one of the first four sets were won with a score of 29 to leave the game 4-4. In the potential decider both scored 30, sending them to a shootout. Woo-jin delivered a 10 to seal gold.

🥇Kim Woo-Jin 🇰🇷

🥈Brady Ellison 🇺🇸

🥉Lee Woo-seok 🇰🇷 Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct

As will often prove to be the case here, I underestimated the Korean dominance. They have never really dominated the Olympics to this extent and although I saw Woo-jin being on the podium, I didn't expect him to win as impressively as he did or his teammates to do as well. D'Almeida run into Woo-jin and maybe if he managed to avoid him, he could have medalled as he was putting up big points in the elimination rounds.

Men’s Team

South Korea topped the ranking stage with France in second and the only other team with over 100 10’s. India were third, joining those two in surpassing 2000 total points. There was no surprises in the preliminary round but Turkey beat India 6-2 to make the semi finals. They then took France to a shootout after a 4-4 tie. In that shootout, France took the early 10-8 lead. Turkey scored 19 to put the pressure on and France would equal it, winning the tie due to the closest arrow. China were beaten 5-1 by the Korean team. In the gold medal match, France were able to split the first set but Korea scored an impressive 59 to win the second set and followed up by repeating to take the gold medal.

🥇South Korea 🇰🇷

🥈France 🇫🇷

🥉Turkey 🇹🇷

Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction

I fancied the Koreans to get gold here and they duly delivered. I did mention both France and Turkey as dangers but went against them due to pedigree in this competition.

Women’s Individual 

Lim Si-hyeon (South Korea) set the tone with a world record in the ranking round, despite slowing in the second half. Behind her, was compatriot Nam Su-hyeon (South Korea), while Alejandra Valencia (Mexico) only trailed Si-hyeon when hitting 17 X’s. Mobina Fallah (Iran) hit fifteen but only qualified in 28th. Megan Havers (Great Britain) caused two upsets to make the round of sixteen, while Casey Kaufhold (United States) was beaten by Lei Chien-ying (Taiwan). Third seed Yang Xiaolei (China) went out to Lisa Barbelin (France). From that point, South Korea dominated, sending all three archers to the semi final. Barbelin continued to outperform her seed and made the semi finals. Su-hyeon ended the Barbelin run in the semi final while Si-hyeon beat Jeon Hun-young (South Korea) in the other. In the bronze medal matchup, Barbelin led 4-2 . Pegged back to 4-4, she had a shot at a ten to win bronze. She nailed it to take bronze in front of her home crowd. Si-hyeon won the final with set scores of 30, 29, 29, 29 and 28. 

🥇Lim Si-hyeon 🇰🇷

🥈Nam Su-hyeon 🇰🇷

🥉Lisa Barbelin 🇫🇷 Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct

Again, I underestimated the Korean dominance. I did think Si-hyeon was the biggest threat of the Koreans and so it proved. Bauer was nowhere near whereas Valencia again put together strong performances in the elimination rounds but not enoguh to topple Si-hyeon. I mentioned Barbelin as a threat.

Women’s Team

South Korea set an Olympic record in the ranking round and were 50 ahead of their nearest competitor, China. The Netherlands produced two big shocks beating France and India 6-0 to reach the semi finals while South Korea could only beat Taiwan 6-2. The other semi final featured Mexico come up against China. The Netherlands took a 4-2 lead against South Korea but the Koreans would fight their way back in with a 59 score round before scoring 26 in the shootout to make the final. In the other semi, China took a 5-3 victory. Mexico took bronze with a 6-2 win over Netherlands. In the final, Korea raced to a 4-0 lead, only for China to pull it back to 4-4. Under immense pressure, two Korean archers scored 10s by hitting the line and taking a 29-27 victory.

🥇South Korea 🇰🇷

🥈China 🇨🇳

🥉Mexico 🇲🇽 Prediction analysis; 1 Medalist correct, 1 perfect prediction

Again, Korea were the deserved favourite. I mention Mexico as serious medal contenders, whilst China were also mentioned for their depth. Great Britain and France both really disappointed.

Mixed Team

Woo-jin/Si-hyeon (South Korea) set an Olympic record in the ranking round finishing ahead of Unruh/Kroppen (Germany) and Ellison/Kaufhold (United States). Acha/Canales (Spain) hit more X’s than anyone outside the top two, however only qualified in thirteenth. In the first round, the South Korean pair struggled against, Yu-hsuan/Chien-ying (Taiwan) only advancing in a shootout. Nakanishi/Noda (Japan) also beat Gazoz/Gakkir (Turkey) in a shootout. The top three seeds all went through to semi final with fifth seed Bommadevara/Bhakat (India) joining them. They lost to South Korea in the first semi final despite taking the opening set. Germany beat the United States in the other semi, with a final set score of 38. The United States won the bronze medal matchup comfortably 6-2 over India. The final was anti-climatic as South Korea beat Germany 6-0 despite two sets where they only scored 35. 

🥇Kim Woo-jin/Lim Si-hyeon 🇰🇷

🥈Florian Unruh/Michelle Kroppen 🇩🇪

🥉Brady Ellison/Casey Kaufhold 🇺🇸 Prediction analysis;2 Medalists correct, 2 perfect prediction

Korea dominated this as they did the rest of the tournament. I also expected Germany to do well. I pointed out the United States as a possible team who could contend