Shooter Ban hyo-jin won gold in the women's 10-meter air rifle on Monday, becoming the country's 100th gold medalist in the cumulative medal tally throughout the history of the Summer Olympics.
Last Saturday, the first day of this year's quadrennial sporting event, Korea got off to a good start as shooters Park Ha-jun and Keum Ji-hyeon took home first medal for the country at the Paris Olympics by winning silver in the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event.
Korea's first gold medal came in fencing on the same day, as Oh Sang-uk won the men's individual sabre, defeating Farès Ferjani of Tunisia in the final bout to become the first Korean fencer to win an individual Olympic event. With the day's victory, Oh also achieved the feat of winning at four different major competitions -- the Olympics, the Asian Games, the World Championships and the Asian Championships.
The following day, teen shooter Oh Ye-jin won gold in the women's 10-meter air pistol while her compatriot Kim Ye-ji won silver. Oh also set a new Olympic record with a combined score of 243.2 points, breaking the previous record of 240.3 points held by Vitalina Batsarashkina of Russia at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Oh's gold medal finish came as a surprise, as it was the rookie’s first appearance at the Olympics.
Later in the day, Korea won another gold medal in the women's archery team event, extending its winning streak for the 10th consecutive time since the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The Korean trio of Jeon Hun-young, Lim Si-hyeon and Nam Su-hyeon secured gold after a nail-biting shoot-off against China.
Despite high expectations, swimming ace Hwang sun-woo failed to reach the final of the men's 200-meter freestyle, finishing ninth overall in the semifinals with a time of 1:45.92. Another Korean swimmer Kim Woo-min, who won bronze in the men's 400-meter freestyle the previous day, placed 12th with a time of 1:46.58, falling short of advancing to the final where only the top eight qualify.
Korea is expected to add another gold medal in its strong discipline of archery, as the men's archery team event is slated to be held later in the day.
