PARIS: The first competition at one of Paris’ postcard Olympic venues opened on Thursday at the Invalides, the resting place of Napoleon Bonap­arte, with the first records of the Games as Lim Si-Hyeon topped women’s arch­ery qualifying.

It was a day of almost uninterrupted conquest for South Kor­ea. Nam Suh-yeon was second in the women’s qualifying and Kim Woo-jin and Kim Je-deok topped men’s qualifying.

The ancient martial competition is being held on the lawn in front of the gilded dome of France’s military museum, where Napoleon was entombed in 1861.

Thursday’s qualifiers represented the calm before the tumult. So that all 64 qualifiers could shoot at once, the competition was held on the practice range, which has no space for spectators.

The archers lined up, side by side, all firing six arrows before they paraded together across to the targets to check their scores. After the 12th, and final round, they were accompanied by scattered applause from coaches and officials.

For the knockout rounds, when only two archers shoot at the same time, competition will move to the main arena with, for archery, an unprecedented capacity of 8,000.

The 21-year-old Lim shot a world and Olympic record 694, breaking the previous mark of 692 held by compatriot Kang Chae-young who won Olympic gold in the team event in Tokyo three years ago.

Lim leads a young Korean squad bidding for a 10th individual gold medal and 10th consecutive women’s team gold. The Korean women are undefeated in the Olympic team event since it was introduced at the 1988 Games.

“I was very nervous because it was my first Olympics, and I tried to enjoy the game as much as I could,” Lim said.

World number one Casey Kaufhold, who was fourth on Thursday with a score of 672, is expected to be among her Lim’s toughest challengers when the medal rounds start on Aug 1. Kaufhold is hoping to be the first American female individual gold medallist since Luann Ryon won in 1976.

Turkish Olympic champion Mete Gazoz and world number one Marcus D’Almeida of Brazil are among the favourites to win the men’s individual gold.

Kim Woo-jin shot 686 to lead a tight men’s competition by four with just nine points separating Kim Je-deok in second from the 17th-best on the day, D’Almeida.

All 64 competitors still advance to the singles knockout stage. Thursday’s scores determined seedings for the singles and doubles. Some nations, including South Korea, always select their highest-scoring qualifier in mixed doubles, so Lim gave herself a chance of three golds.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to take on the mixed match challenge. I will try to seize the opportunity,” she said.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2024