Sacrifice repaid by female archers` winning gold

She was shooting thousands of arrows during the past 10 months through that day, even without seeing her husband and child. With these sacrifices, she won the right to compete in the 17th Asian Games.

Yet Joo Hyun-jung’s choice was made for the team than for herself alone. She secured a third-place berth to compete in the team event, but she gave it up by her own choice. She thought her shoulder injury would hold back her team members. Fourth place finisher Lee Tuk-young took her place.

Though Joo did not compete at the venue, she was with her junior teammates. South Korean female archers shot their arrows with Joo’s aspirations in mind. The result was gold, and the fifth consecutive gold in women’s individual archery at the Asian Games.

The Korean female recurve team of Lee Tuk-young, Chang Hye-jin, and Jung Dasomi, destroyed China with a set score of 6-0 (54-50, 56-55, 58-52) at the finals at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field in Incheon on Sunday.

After the victory, the three women wept for joy in an embrace with Joo. "I am as happy as though I won the gold. I was sorry for having burdened Lee but she did spectacularly," Joo said.

Joo rooted for a gold medal for her junior teammates even in her dream. On Tuesday night when she resolved to step down, Joo had a vivid dream. In her dream she took out a gold medal from her bed and gave it to her junior teammates and told them she had prepared a gold for the girls.

In the run-up to the event, Joo said, “I dreamed an amazing dream, just relax and shoot comfortably.” On Friday, she found two 100-won coins on the archery venue grass, which the archers believed to be opportune.

The three female archers all said they shot as if one with Joo. Unable to even applaud due to her shoulder injury, Joo instead cheered on the Korean female archery team loud and clear with her voice.