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Oh Jin-hyeok rewrites Korea’s archery history

Posted September. 18, 2014 03:17,   

한국어

Oh Jin-hyeok, the oldest player of the Korean national archery team, is 34-years old. Archery is considered a sport in which Korean players find it more difficult to join the national team than winning a gold medal at Olympics. Due to extremely intense competition, flagship players are replaced almost every year.

Previously, Park Gyeong-mo was the only Korean archer that served as a member of the national team for Class A international competitions (Olympics, Asian Games and world championships) at age 34, when he participated at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Kim Seong-hoon, the head coach of men’s national archery team, said, “Oh Jin-hyeok is also highly likely to participate at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, which will take place two years from now. He is an athlete who will rewrite the history of Korean archery.”

Oh will take an oath to vow fair play jointly with Nam Hyeon-hee in the women’s fencing team to represent the athletes from all different countries at the opening ceremony of the Asian Games on Friday. It was an unthinkable event up until several years ago.

○ ‘Only if I can enter Taeneung Athletic Center once again’

Oh became the first Korean archer ever to acquire an Olympic gold medal in men’s individual archery competition at the London Olympics in 2012. He continued his strides since, and is solidly maintaining his No. 1 position in men’s global rankings at present.

People might as well misunderstand Oh as an athlete full of glorious moments, but he has had to overcome hardships like diehard weed as an unknown archer for a long time. He first became a national team member in 1999 when he was a high school student. Then, he was soon exited from the national team in the next year, and wandered around for a while. He rejoined the national team in 2007, but was exited again at competition to select national team members in the next year. He said, “I thought to myself that even if I quit archery, I wish to do so only after having a chance to eat at a cafeteria in the Taeneung Athletic Center”

The heaven helped Oh who helped himself. He said, “One day, I had this sense of conviction in my skills. It was a gift from god. I have been constantly endeavoring to maintain this sense since then.” After joining the national team in 2009, something that he so strongly aspired for, he has been playing a role as the ace of men’s recurve archery team.

The driving force that enables him to keep lead is his ceaseless effort. He often practices archery all alone late at night or on Sunday when others take rest. Even during vacation, he immediately heads to the archery training site when ‘he feels such sense’ and exercises for one or two hours. He said, “When I acquire scores to the extent that I practice, I feel overwhelming sense of achievement. Nothing can be compared to the overflowing joy of seeing my arrow fly as I intended.

○ Concern about shoulder pain

Oh Jin-hyeok’s bow is heavier than other players’. Tension he embraces when pulling the string is also strong in tandem. In order for him to shoot the arrow more powerfully, he inevitably adds to physical burden on his body.

Since he is an athlete tirelessly engaging in training, his shoulder is not in normal condition. As ligament in his rotator has been overly worn out, the shoulder generates snapping sound whenever he pulls the bowstring. When he first heard this sound three years ago, he mistook it as sound from releasing the bowstring, and ended up scoring zero point.

These days, he is taking treatment and rehabilitation therapy at the same time. He is also taking every three months an injection that serves as lubricant in his injury. “It would be the best case scenario if I can participate at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, but no one knows what will happen. I will only focus on immediate future rather than a distance future. My immediate goal is to win two gold medals (individual and group competitions) at the upcoming Asian Games.”