Paris 2024 Olympics - Archery Training - Invalides, Paris, France - July 23, 2024. South Korea's Lim Si-hyeon during training. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang
PARIS (Reuters) - Lim Si-hyeon delivered an emphatic statement on Thursday that she is the woman to beat at the Paris Olympics as the mighty South Korean archery team warmed up for another assault on the medal podium.
The 21-year-old Lim shot a world and Olympic record 694 in Thursday's women's individual ranking round at the stunning Esplanade des Invalides venue, 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.
"They're always up there. I think the money that they put into it is unlike any other country, they have professional teams," said Team GB's Bryony Pitman, who was 41st out of the field of 64.
"The last few months as well, they've had a replica Paris stage set up (at their training base just outside Seoul), they've been shooting against a robot that just puts them in the 10 all the time. They are as prepared as you could possibly be for an Olympic game."
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.
STUNNING VENUE
The 8,000-seat Esplanade des Invalides venue is situated next to the famous golden dome of the Hotel des Invalides.
The Hotel, commissioned by Louis XIV in 1670 as a home and hospital for wounded soldiers, is a sprawling complex of buildings that is now mostly museums and monuments dedicated to France's military history. The glittering gold dome contains the imperial tomb of former French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
"The whole surrounding is absolutely stunning," said Pitman. "I've never seen a stage that big for archery before. I think it's just going to be insane when the stands are full as well. I'm really, really excited to get out there."
"I think it's one of the most beautiful and most famous places we've ever shot," Germany's Michelle Kroppen, who was seventh in the ranking round, said.
"I will just try to enjoy it, to enjoy all the emotions and all the pictures in my head that nobody can steal from me, these emotions, these feelings."
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.
Korea has won a record 43 Olympic archery medals including 27 gold, 13 gold medals better than second-placed United States.
The Korean team's training centre boasts state of the art technology including computers with AI technology that can track every part of a shot, including an athlete's posture to facilitate corrections.
The men's individual ranking round takes place later on Thursday.
(This story has been corrected to fix the name of Kang Chae-young and change to 'Olympic gold medal in team event' in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
