Women’s pistol shooter Oh Ye-jin (19-IBK Corporate Bank), who gave South Korea’s shooting team its first Olympic gold medal in eight years, is a product of her own skill and the Korean Shooting Federation, which helped her realize it.

Oh won the gold medal in the 10-meter air pistol final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Chateauroux Shooting Center in France on Monday (Aug. 28) after a fierce battle with her senior teammate and roommate Kim Ye-ji (31, Imsil County Office).

Kim won the silver medal, becoming the first South Korean athlete in women’s shooting history to sweep the Olympic gold and silver medals.

Oh was not a prominent international shooter, ranked just 35th in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) women’s 10-meter air pistol world rankings prior to the Games.

The shooting team’s “secret weapon” and thorough preparation for the competition led to a gold medal.

“Oh is a genius,” says Lee Eun-chul, vice president of the Korean Shooting Federation, who won gold in men’s rifle prone in Barcelona 1992.

Lee, who took over as the Korean Shooting Federation’s performance enhancement chairman last year and has been transforming much of the sport in South Korea, took the lead in preparing for Paris.

“You can tell when someone is going to be good,” Lee said, ”and I could see it from the first time he joined the national team. She is a so-called genius athlete who is far above the others in terms of scores,” Lee explained.

However, Oh’s weakness was her lack of experience.

Her lack of international experience meant that she had a lot of ups and downs, and it was possible that she would be even more intimidated on the Olympic stage.

To help her perform at her best, the KFA hired Hong Young-ok to coach the women’s pistol team.

Hong worked exclusively with Oh for three years at Jeju Women’s Commercial High School from 2021 until last year.

The shooting team even describes Hong and Oh as a “mother-daughter” relationship.

“We decided that Oh Ye-jin needed a coach who could provide her with emotional stability in order to reduce her ups and downs and perform confidently at the Olympics,” said Lee. She coaches all the women’s pistol players on the national team, but Oh Ye-jin is the one she relies on the most.”

“Coach Hong is the one who has allowed me to fully immerse myself in the sport of shooting,” Oh says.

It’s not just a symbolic “gift,” as she calls her teacher, but someone who literally made her the shooter she is today.

A glimpse of how much Oh relies on Hong came during the air pistol final on Sunday.

The Shatoru Shooting Center, a converted military base, has no electricity, so the venue can’t run air conditioning at will.

When Oh Ye-jin approached coach Hong Young-ok, who was having trouble competing in the heat, she used her AD card as a fan to send a cool breeze to her student.

After winning the gold medal, Oh recalled the scene: “I was having a bad game, so I went out for a break. After hearing Coach Hong’s story, I regained my composure and went back in and shot hard,” he said, thanking her.

Hong’s gold medal was a rich reward for the four years she spent with her protégé, including three years in high school and one year on the national team. 사설 토토사이트