Hyundai Motor celebrates Korean archers’ success at Paris Olympic

Triple gold medalists receive W800m in incentives from Korea Archery Association

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun (sixth from right), who doubles as the Korea Archery Association president, and athletes and coaching staff of the Korean national archery team pose for a photo at the team's banquet at Grand Walkerhill Seoul on Tuesday. (Korea Archery Association)

The Korea Archery Association and its decadeslong sponsor Hyundai Motor Group held a congratulatory banquet Tuesday to celebrate the Korean national archers’ unprecedented success -- winning all five available gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris earlier this summer.

The Korean women’s archery team won its 10th consecutive gold while the men’s team won its third gold in a row. The mixed archery team took the back-to-back titles. Koreans also swept both men's and women’s individual events.

“The great record of Korean archery, which is one for the history books, was not achieved just overnight,” said Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, who doubles as the president of the KAA.

“The differentiating factor between a win and a loss was non-stop practice and effort as well as outside-the-box practices. Such differences came to life thanks to the former KAA presidents’ love and support for archery, numerous archers’ innovative challenges to improve their skills and the scientific advancement of practices.”

Chung Mong-koo, the father of the Hyundai Motor Group chief and the honorary chair of Hyundai Motor Group, served as the KAA president from 1985 to 1997. The current KAA president took the post in 2005.

The KAA awarded cash incentives to the national archers. The triple gold medalists -- Kim Woo-jin and Lim Si-hyeon -- each received 800 million won ($600,000). Nam Su-hyeon, the silver medalist in the women’s individual event, and Lee Woo-seok, the bronze medalist in the men’s individual event, were given 500 million won and 450 million won, respectively. Jeon Hun-young and Kim Je-deok, who played a crucial role in winning the gold medals at the women's and men’s team events but came up short in the individual events, received 330 million won.

Hyundai Motor Group has sponsored the KAA over the last 40 years to support the country’s archery sector. Using the auto conglomerate’s cutting-edge technologies, Hyundai Motor developed a wide range of devices to help the archers hone their skills such as a personal shooting robot, a multiangle camera that can analyze each archer’s shooting form to find the best posture and a portable arrow-diagnosis machine that archers can use to examine their equipment anywhere, anytime.

Since 1984, Korean archers have secured 32 gold medals, 10 silver medals and eight bronze medals at the Summer Olympic Games to become the most dominant archery nation in the world.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to continue supporting the KAA and the country’s archery sector.

By Kan Hyeong-woo(hwkan@heraldcorp.com)