Choi Mi-sun

Choi Mi-sun (Korean pronunciation: [tɕʰwe̞.mi.sʌn]; born 1 July 1996) is a female South Korean recurve archer. She won gold medal in the women's team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

For other people with the same name, see Choi Mi-seon (disambiguation).

In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.
Choi Mi-sun
Personal information
Born (1996-07-01) 1 July 1996
EducationGwangju Women's University
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Weight53 kg (117 lb)[1]
Sport
Country South Korea
SportArchery
Coached byKim Sung-eun
Korean name
Hangul
최미선
Hanja
崔美善
Revised RomanizationChoe Mi-seon
McCune–ReischauerCh'oe Mi-sŏn

Career

2015: Instant success

Choi made her international debut in May 2015 at the opening stage of the 2015 Archery World Cup in Shanghai, finishing her first competition with a third place in the women's individual event.[2] Two stage wins followed at the World Cup's second leg in Antalya later that month, Choi defeating compatriots Chang Hye-jin and the highly favoured 2012 double Olympic gold medalist Ki Bo-bae in the stage's semi-finals and final respectively of the women's individual tournament, before combining with Kim Woojin to win the mixed team event.[3][4]

Choi's next international tournament was the 2015 Summer Universiade in July. Having been named for the South Korean team alongside Ki, she advanced successfully in the women's individual event to contest her second final of the year against the Olympic champion, the match-up being characterised as a battle between the present and future stars of Korean archery by the Korean newspaper Chungnam Ilbo.[5] Ki emerged victorious in what the Yonhap News Agency called a "memorable duel", outscoring Choi ten points to nine in a one-arrow shoot-off after a closely fought match.[6]

Choi would go on to have further success later in the year, winning medals at the World Archery Championships and an individual gold medal at the season-ending Archery World Cup finals.[7]

2016: Olympic gold medalist

Choi won selection to her maiden Olympic Games in the spring of 2016, joining Chang Hye-jin and defending Olympic champion Ki Bo-bae in Rio de Janeiro as part of the South Korea women's team bid to defend their women's individual and women's team titles.[8] In the run-up to the Games she was tipped as one of the favourites to win the women's individual gold medal alongside Ki and Chinese Taipei's Tan Ya-ting, with Jane Zorowitz of American broadcaster NBC describing Choi as Ki's "biggest roadblock" to retaining her Olympic title.[9][10] Her prospects of an Olympic medal were enhanced in June when she matched Ki's world record score of 686 for a 72-arrow round at the third stage of the 2016 Archery World Cup.[11]

At the Olympics Games in August the women's team event landed Choi her first Olympic medal, the Korean trio comfortably defeating Russia in the gold medal final by five set points to one amid difficult conditions. The victory brought South Korea's eighth successive women's team Olympic title.[12] Choi's performance in the women's individual event was however more mixed. She began strongly in the 72-arrow ranking round, and was on course to surpass the twenty-year old Olympic record score of 673 set by Lina Herasymenko before breezy conditions developed mid-way through the round and halted her progress. She nevertheless earned the top seed for the elimination stages after ranking first with 669 points from a maximum of 720, three points ahead of Chang and six ahead of Ki.[13] She was however eliminated in the quarter-finals by Alejandra Valencia, the 2011 Pan American Games double gold medalist, in a surprise result. A score of five on her first arrow began a subpar performance which ended in Choi losing in straight sets.[14]

2017: World record
Choi at the 2017 World Archery Championships

The 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei City saw Choi break the world record score for a 72-arrow round with 687 points, surpassing the former record set by Ki Bo-bae at the 2015 Summer Universiade by one point. Reflecting on her achievement, Choi admitted she was still fatigued after her World Cup appearances earlier in the year but felt the accommodating weather conditions helped her shoot well.[15]

The World Championships held in Mexico City in September gave Choi her first World Championship gold medal. Partnering Chang Hye-jin and Kang Chae-young she triumphed against host nation Mexico in the women's team final, the three overcoming a slow start to win South Korea's thirteenth World Championship women's team title.[16] In the women's individual event Choi joined her teammates at the head of the ranking round standings in fourth place with 671 points, albeit finishing thirteen points behind leader Kang.[17] She would later bow out in the final sixteen to Russia's Ksenia Perova.[18]

In October Choi was one of nine athletes honoured with a national award for sporting excellence at the 55th Korea Sports Awards.[19]

2018-2019: Absence and return

Choi was not selected for Korea's international team in 2018, but was named alongside Chang Hye-jin and Kang Chae-young to contest the 2019 season.[20]

References
  1. "Choi Mi-sun". Rio 2016. Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  2. Oh, Kyu-wook (15 April 2012). "Korean archers win 2 golds at World Cup". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  3. Vasquez, Andrea (30 May 2015). "Antalya finals preview: Recurve Sunday". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  4. Wells, Chris (31 May 2015). "World Champion climbs Antalya recurve podium". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  5. "양궁 2 관왕 기 보배 "이제 리우 바라 볼게요"" [Two-time Archery Champion Ki Bo-bae: "I'll see you now"]. Chungnam Ilbo (in Korean). 8 July 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  6. "[Universiade] South Korea claimed two gold medals in recurve archery at the Summer Universiade on Wednesday". The Korea Herald. Yonhap News Agency. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  7. Wells, Chris (25 October 2015). "Choi Misun lands Archery World Cup title aged 19". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  8. Kim, Hyo-kyung (21 April 2016). "After a grueling journey, Olympics archery team decided". Korea Joong Ang Daily. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  9. "Experts predict: the Rio 2016 Olympic archery champions". World Archery Federation. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  10. Zorowitz, Jane (7 August 2016). "Preview: Men and women's individual archery competition". NBC Olympics. NBC Universal. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  11. "Korean archer ties world record". The Korea Herald. Yonhap News Agency. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  12. Ransom, Ian (7 August 2016). "Archery: Unflappable South Koreans protect proud legacy". Reuters. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  13. "South Korean archer sets first world record of Rio Games". The Japan Times. Associated Press. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  14. "South Korean captures women's archery gold at Olympics". USA Today. Associated Press. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. Wells, Chris (20 August 2017). "Choi Misun shoots 687/720; sets new world record". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  16. "South Korea beats Mexico in women's recurve team final". EFE. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  17. Winters, Max (17 October 2017). "South Korea dominate women's recurve qualification at World Archery Championships". Inside the Games. Dunsar Media Company. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  18. Vasquez, Andrea (19 October 2017). "Olympic Champion Chang Hye Jin to shoot for world title". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  19. "Olympic gold-winning archer to receive natl. sports award". The Korea Herald. Yonhap News Agency. 13 October 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  20. Wells, Chris (11 April 2019). "Choi Misun, Lee Seungyun return to Korean team for 2019 Hyundai World Archery Championships". World Archery Federation. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
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