Ki Bo-bae facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Ki Bo-bae

Ki at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	South Korean
Born	February 20, 1988 (1988-02-20) (age 37) Anyang, South Korea
Education	Gwangju Women's University
Height	167 cm
Weight	57 kg
Sport
Sport	Archery
Event(s)	Recurve archery
Coached by	Park Chae-soon
Medal record Women's recurve archery Representing  South Korea Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 0 1 World Championships 5 0 2 World Cup Final 3 0 1 Asian Games 1 0 0 Universiade 5 1 0 Total 17 1 4 Event 1st 2nd 3rd Women's individual 7 0 2 Women's team 5 1 2 Mixed team 5 0 0 Olympic Games Gold 2012 London Individual Gold 2012 London Team Gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro Team Bronze 2016 Rio de Janeiro Individual World Championships Gold 2011 Turin Mixed team Gold 2013 Belek Team Gold 2013 Belek Mixed team Gold 2015 Copenhagen Individual Gold 2015 Copenhagen Mixed team Bronze 2011 Turin Team Bronze 2015 Copenhagen Team World Cup Final Gold 2012 Tokyo Individual Gold 2016 Odense Individual Gold 2017 Rome Individual Bronze 2010 Edinburgh Individual Asian Games Gold 2010 Guangzhou Team Asian Championships Gold 2017 Dhaka Team Bronze 2017 Dhaka Individual Universiade Gold 2011 Shenzhen Individual Gold 2011 Shenzhen Team Gold 2011 Shenzhen Mixed team Gold 2015 Gwangju Individual Gold 2015 Gwangju Mixed team Silver 2015 Gwangju Team

Ki Bo-bae (Hangul: 기보배; born February 20, 1988) is a famous South Korean archer. She uses a recurve bow, which is a type of bow that curves away from the archer at the ends. Ki Bo-bae has won three Olympic gold medals.

She won gold in both the women's team and individual events at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also won gold in the women's team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Games, she earned a bronze medal in the individual competition. With four Olympic medals, she is one of the most successful archers in Olympic history.

Ki Bo-bae started archery in primary school. By 2010, she was part of the South Korean national team. Besides the Olympics, she has won gold medals at the World Archery Championships. She became the women's recurve world champion in 2015. She also won gold at the Asian Games and the Summer Universiade. She is a three-time winner of the Archery World Cup finals. From 2015 to 2017, she held the world record score for the women's 72-arrow round. She was also ranked as the women's world number one archer twice.

Ki Bo-bae's Early Life and Interests

Ki Bo-bae was born on February 20, 1988. She began learning archery when she was eleven years old. Her primary school offered the sport, and she quickly became interested.

In 2015, Ki Bo-bae was a student at Gwangju Women's University. This allowed her to compete in the 2015 Summer Universiade. As of 2017, she was working on a higher degree called a doctorate. She has shared her wish to work with athletes from the Paralympic Games. She also wants to teach children with disabilities. Ki Bo-bae hopes to join the International Olympic Committee. This would let her help South Korea host future Summer Olympics.

Ki Bo-bae announced her marriage in September 2017. This was shortly after she won her third Archery World Cup. She got married two months later. She also helped carry the torch for the 2018 Winter Olympics torch relay.

Ki Bo-bae's Archery Career

Starting Her Journey: 2010–2011

Ki Bo-bae joined the South Korean archery team in 2010. She competed with Joo Hyun-jung and Yun Ok-hee at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. She was eliminated in the individual competition. However, she won a gold medal in the women's team event. Her team beat China in the final.

At the 2011 Archery World Cup in Antalya, she won another team gold medal. She also earned a silver medal in the individual competition. She later won the first of her three mixed team titles at the 2011 World Archery Championships.

Becoming a Double Olympic Champion: 2012

Ki (left) celebrates her 2012 gold medal win in the women's team event with Lee Sung-jin (center) and Choi Hyeon-ju (right)

The 2012 Summer Olympics in London was Ki Bo-bae's first time at the Olympics. She scored 671 points in the first round. This tied her for the top spot in the women's individual event. She was ranked first because she hit the center of the target more often. Her team also earned the top spot for the women's team competition.

Ki and her teammates won the women's team event. They had a very close win against China. This gave South Korea its seventh straight Olympic gold medal in this event. Ki shot the final arrow, securing the victory by just one point.

Ki won her second gold medal of the Games in the individual event. She beat Aída Román from Mexico in a very close final. They tied, so they had a one-arrow shoot-off. Both archers shot into the 8-ring. But Ki's arrow was slightly closer to the center, so she won the gold medal.

Ki was the only South Korean woman archer to win two Olympic medals in London. After the final, she apologized for her last arrow. She said that "Koreans do not shoot eights." She also shared that she was praying and did not watch Román shoot her arrow.

Outside the Olympics, Ki performed well in the 2012 Archery World Cup. She won gold medals in the team and individual events in Shanghai. She then qualified for the final stage in Tokyo. There, she won the gold medal match against Deepika Kumari from India.

Setting World Records: 2013–2015

In 2013, Ki Bo-bae won two gold medals at the 2013 World Archery Championships in Belek. She won her second mixed team title with Oh Jin-hyek. She also won the women's team title. However, she lost in the individual competition.

In 2014, Ki was not chosen for the national team. This was the first time in four years. She later said she had "relaxed too much" during the trials. Watching the Asian Games that year made her want to return to the team. Her absence meant she lost her top spot in the world rankings.

In 2015, Ki returned to the national team. She finished first in the national trials. In July, at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, she set two new world records. Her score of 686 points for the 72-arrow round broke an eleven-year-old record. Her team also set a new world record for the women's team event. Ki then won the individual event, her first gold medal in almost three years. She also won gold in the mixed team event.

Ki won two more gold medals at the 2015 World Archery Championships in Copenhagen. She earned her third mixed team gold with Ku Bonchan. She also won the women's individual recurve final. By mid-August, she was back at the top of the World Archery Rankings.

Third Olympic Gold: 2016–2017

Ki Bo-bae was the only archer from South Korea's 2012 Olympic team to return for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Many thought she would win gold in both individual and team events. Winning would make her the first archer to defend an individual Olympic title. It would also put her on par with Kim Soo-nyung, who has four Olympic gold medals.

Ki scored 663 points in the ranking round. This earned her the third spot for the women's individual event. Her teammates Choi Mi-sun and Chang Hye-jin finished first and second. This meant the team also earned the top spot for the women's team competition.

Ki, Chang, and Choi won the women's team event. They beat Russia in the final. This gave Ki her third Olympic gold medal. It was also South Korea's eighth straight Olympic women's team title. Ki spoke about the high expectations on the team. She said, "we just continued working together and having very strong team work and it proved to be right."

Ki's goal to defend her individual title ended in the semi-finals. Her teammate Chang Hye-jin beat her in an unexpected result. Ki then won the bronze medal match against Alejandra Valencia from Mexico.

Ki won her second Archery World Cup title in Odense in September. She beat Choi in the final. The next year, she won her third World Cup title in Rome. She achieved this by beating Ksenia Perova.

See also

In Spanish: Ki Bo-Bae para niños

• List of Olympic medalists in archery
• Korean archery