Tag Archives: Kim Woojin

“We are always working for those who believe.” Woojin & Hyejin

28 September, 2017

Chang Hyejin and Kim Woojin at Rome 2017. Pic by Dean Alberga (but hey, he took it using my camera).

This is a translation of a recent article by JTBC News. You can find the original article (in Korean) here.

Kim Woojin and Chang Hyejin, 25 and 30 respectively, are preparing for the World Archery Championships in October, in Mexico.

Woojin led the gold winning men’s team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, and Chang Hye-jin won two gold medals in both individual and women’s team. While they both won gold, their personalities are very different. Woojin is the youngest, but the calmest. earning him the nickname, ‘grownup’, and on the other hand Hyejin, the oldest one, is much more warrior-like. 

Together they took a gold medal after defeating host country Italy 5-1 at the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final mixed team finals held in Rome, Italy on August 3.

The Archery World Cup finals is a tournament in which eight male and female athletes – one from the World Cup Rankings 1 to 7 and one from the host country – shoot tournament style. Kim won the individual competition, four years after Oh Jin-Hyuk in 2013 – the last time a that a Korean male athlete won the World Cup finals. The “Archery brothers and sisters” are on top of the world.

Since the Olympics, you have both won many international competitions.

Chang: I won the gold medal in the Olympics, so I got confidence in my performance.

Kim: I had confidence from the Olympics last year. I was careful because I slipped up on the threshold of making the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and it took a lot of strength to overcome the pressure and the burden. Since Rio, I have been shooting a lot more boldly.

Woojin’s new quiver. Gom, or 곰, means ‘bear’.


It seems that getting through the domestic qualification tournament is harder than winning the international competition. Rio Olympic men’s gold medalist Ku Bonchan and team gold medalist Lee Seungyun have been eliminated.

Kim: When I first started 8 years ago when I was a high school senior, the competition was extremely fierce and still is. If you shot well, you stayed, but if you didn’t, you had to leave, I was nervous.

How do you feel when your colleagues suddenly disappear?

Kim: The world of competition is tough. You have to survive solely on your skills, not networks of friends and family members. If it was all done with favours between members, Korea wouldn’t be the strong archery nation we have today. Of course, it’s not nice to see one of your teammates leave. I also was one of [those leaving] for approximately a year, so I know what it feels like. When I see them, I see them with the mind that we will have our day again to go to competitions together.

Chang: I used to cry when my friends dropped out of the team, but now I’m a bit older I think to myself and tell them that it’s not like we won’t be able to meet anymore.

the joker

Both of you have been eight years on the national team. It seems that the training centre must be like your home now. 

Kim: I am now more comfortable sleeping in the village than at home.

Chang: No matter how much time goes by, it’s still just ‘the village’. I’m still more comfortable at home. (laughs)

What do you do to relax?

Chang: It is not easy for me to meet my parents often because they’re all the way out in Daegu, but I like to have a ‘restaurant’ tour with my family.

Kim: I go down to the Han [river] and inhale the chicken and cola, and I like to watch movies with my friends. Pirates of the Caribbean, yeah.

Chang Hyejin & Ki Bo Bae after their semifinal match. Rome 2017

Ki Bo Bae announce she was getting married. Have you had any thoughts in that direction? 

Chang: I have talked about it a lot with my friend, but we did not think about marriage since we were always training in the national team. (laughs) I once joked to Bobae that I would be left alone if she got married, but now… hey, congratulations on your marriage, Bobae!

Kim: I told Bobae congratulations on her marriage. I am still young and I have no thoughts about ​​marriage yet. Not right now, but I do want a girlfriend. I definitely wouldn’t recommend doing archery and marriage at the same time.

Tell us about the world championship next month.

Chang: The world title is not something you can say is easy. A representing athlete to has to train hard even on the day when the body is aching and wants to rest. But I’ve been doing it for the past eight years. The feeling and emotion, the spark I get when I shoot 10 points in a match is what keeps me going. I want to feel that feeling in this world championship. The goal is to win.

Kim: I want to get good results in both individual and group matches. This is the biggest major tournament since the Olympics. We have been doing well in this year’s competitions and we will be able to do well this time. We are always working for those who believe.

Woojin: the year of the monkey

13 April, 2016

Awesome English-language post and quotes from Kim Woojin last month. Original article is here: http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=3015462

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Kim Woojin (in glasses) at Shanghai 2015. Photo: The Infinite Curve

Kim Woo-jin knows that getting a spot on the Korean national archery team can be more difficult than winning international events.

And like most athletes this year, the 23-year-old archer is aiming for the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Though there are two trials left for Korean archers to qualify for the national team, Kim is regarded as the frontrunner for a spot.

After clinching silver medals in the men’s singles at the World Cup event last year, Kim went on to win gold in the World Archery Championships in July, both single and team. It was his second world title after 2011.

Having the momentum, he claimed the Aquece Rio International Archery Challenge, which doubled as a Rio 2016 Olympic test event, in September 2015. As a result, Kim became No.1 in world rankings in men’s recurve, edging his teammate Lee Seung-yun.

Kim, who is with the Cheongju City Hall archery team, said that he has a good feeling about his performance this year. The two-time Worlds champion is born in the year of monkey under the Chinese Zodiac, which happens to be the same as this year.

“I’m kind of thrilled since the Olympics is in the year of the monkey,” he said. “I have a feeling that things may go well. Going to the Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

The Rio Games will be his first Olympics. Kim first represented Korea when he was a senior at Chungbuk Physical Education High School in North Chungcheong. In 2010, he won two gold medals – men’s single and team – at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China to signal his start.

In 2011, Kim also won two gold medals at World Cup events and everyone thought his spot at the London Summer Games in 2012 was secure.

“Back then, my shots hit the target in every event,” he said. “Many people thought my spot at the Olympics was guaranteed.”

But his early success didn’t help him. Kim admitted that people’s praise of his results made him lose focus and get lazy. His performance started to slip and he eventually finished fourth in qualification for the London Olympics, losing his spot on the national team.

“I was utterly shocked. I felt as if I fell straight to the bottom,” he said. “The failure continued to haunt me.”

It was a slump, according to Kim. At one point, Kim started to think it might end his career.

“Anxiety continued to distress me as I constantly missed the target. As a result, my records started to fall,” he said. “I changed my equipment, but it didn’t help.”

But he didn’t give up. Although he had to leave the Taereung National Training Center, he continued with his training at his club’s practice center.

“I had to increase the amount of my practice,” he said. “I used to shoot 400 to 500 arrows a day at Taereung. Once I was kicked out of there, I began shooting 600 to 700 shots daily. I often got blisters on my hands.”

Kim said his senior teammates helped him to recover. His role model Park Kyung-mo, the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist archer and now coach for the Gongju City Hall archery team, also advised Kim to start anew.

Kim’s hard work began to bear fruit. In 2012 and 2013, Kim only competed in domestic tournaments to improve his condition. In 2014, he returned to competition on the international stage. In 2015, he successfully reclaimed his spot in the national team.

The four years since his failure to qualify for the London Games made Kim prudent and cautious. This was evident as he discussed the Rio Games.

“The reason behind my silence regarding the Olympics is because of my past experience in 2012. I have become more defensive since then,” he said. “I guess I was always a serious person though.”

But Kim said he won’t repeat the same mistake.

His goal to get to the Olympics is set for this year. But Kim wants to stay patient.

“I don’t think failing to enter the national team four years ago was entirely bad for me,” he said. “It was actually a good experience for me in preparing for the upcoming summer games.”

Though he was reluctant to talk about his goal at the Olympics, Kim finally admitted, not surprisingly, that he was aiming for the gold medal.

“To tell the truth, I imagine winning the gold medal at Rio before I go to sleep every night,” he said. “Some say image training helps one’s dream to become reality one day. If I’m qualified for the Olympics, I want to be remembered by the fans and the only way for me to achieve that is by grabbing gold.”

BY PI JOO-YOUNG [choi.hyungjo@joongang.co.kr]

2015 World Archery Championships – individual eliminations

30 July, 2015

THURSDAY 30th July: Recurve and compound individual eliminations.

WA news roundups here:

KI BO BAE INTO SHOT AT ELUSIVE WORLD TITLE

HANSEN AXES THROUGH FIELD IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD

WOOJIN ORCHESTRATES WORLD TITLE BOUT RETURN

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Ki Bo Bae

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Naomi Jones

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Dani Brown.

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Adam Ravenscroft, winning his shootoff against Abhishek Verma.

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Crystal Gauvin.

 

 

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Kim Yun Hee.

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Supporting cast.

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Ku Bonchan.

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Elias Malave

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Marcus D’Almeida ( & coach & Takaharu Furukawa)

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Brady Ellison

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Mauro Nespoli, Taylor Worth.

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Kim Woojin (& Rick Van der Ven)