Park Sung-hyun (archer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Park Sung-hyun

Personal information
Born	(1983-01-01) 1 January 1983 (age 42) Incheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Height	172cm
Sport
Sport	Archery
Event(s)	Recurve archery
Medal record Women's recurve archery Representing  South Korea Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens Individual Gold 2004 Athens Team Gold 2008 Beijing Team Silver 2008 Beijing Individual World Championships Gold 2001 Beijing Individual Gold 2003 New York City Team Gold 2005 Madrid Team Gold 2007 Leipzig Team Silver 2003 New York City Individual Silver 2007 Leipzig Individual Bronze 2001 Beijing Team Bronze 2005 Madrid Individual World Cup Final Silver 2008 Lausanne Individual Asian Games Gold 2002 Busan Team Gold 2006 Doha Individual Gold 2006 Doha Team Asian Championships Gold 2005 New Delhi Individual Silver 2005 New Delhi Team Summer Universiade Gold 2003 Daegu Team Gold 2003 Daegu Individual

Park Sung-hyun (Hangul: 박성현; Hanja: 朴成賢) is a famous archer from South Korea. She was born on January 1, 1983. Park is known for winning three gold medals at the Olympic Games.

She started her international archery career in 2001. That year, she won the women's recurve title at the World Archery Championships. Her first Olympics were the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. There, she won two gold medals: one for herself and one with her team. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she won another gold medal with her team. She also earned a silver medal in the individual event.

Park Sung-hyun has achieved great success in many international competitions. She was the first South Korean archer to win gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, Asian Games, and Asian Championships. She also set world records in archery. The World Archery Federation even called her the greatest Olympic archer of the 21st century!

About Park Sung-hyun

Park Sung-hyun was born in Incheon, South Korea. In December 2008, she married another archer, Park Kyung-mo. He is also an Olympic gold medalist. They waited until after the 2008 Olympics to announce their marriage. This was to avoid distracting the national team during the big competition. Park lived in Gunsan in western South Korea around the time of the 2008 Olympics. She has three daughters.

Park's Archery Career

Olympic Achievements

2004 Athens Olympics

Park Sung-hyun started the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens by setting a new world record. She scored 682 points in the first round. This was for the women's 72-arrow ranking round. Her score broke the old record of 679 points. However, this score wasn't an Olympic record because the round happened before the opening ceremony.

With her teammates Lee Sung-jin and Yun Mi-jin, she also set a new world record for the women's team event. They scored 2,030 points together. This was for a 216-arrow round.

Park and Lee Sung-jin both made it to the final of the women's individual competition. Park won the gold medal by beating her teammate 110–108. This was South Korea's sixth gold medal in this event. Two days later, Park won her second gold medal. She, Lee, and Yun beat China by just one point in the women's team event final. This gave South Korea its fifth gold medal in a row for this event. Park shot the last arrow, scoring ten points to win the match!

2008 Beijing Olympics

Before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, many people thought Park would win again. She and her teammate Yun Ok-hee were expected to win the individual gold. The South Korean team was also favored to win their sixth team title. Park scored 673 points in the ranking round. This put her in first place and matched an Olympic record.

With Yun and Joo Hyun-jung, the team also set a new Olympic record. They scored 2,004 points together. The trio then won against Italy, France, and China. This secured their sixth straight Olympic title in the women's team competition.

Park also reached her second Olympic individual final. She faced Zhang Juanjuan from China. Zhang had beaten Park's teammates earlier. This final was the third time Park and Zhang had met in an Olympic final. Zhang won by one point. She became the first archer from outside South Korea to win the women's individual title in 24 years. Park was disappointed but felt the silver medal would push her to seek more gold. She also thought her loss might ease the pressure on Korean archers. In 2016, Park said she was "maybe too greedy" for gold.

World Championships Success

Park competed in the World Archery Championships from 2001 to 2007. She won a medal in all four events she entered. At just 18 years old, she became the women's recurve world champion in 2001. In 2003, she, Yun Mi-jin, and Lee Hyun-jung did very well. Park lost to Yun in the final, earning a silver medal.

In 2005, Park, Lee Sung-jin, and Lee Tuk-young won the women's team gold medal. They beat Ukraine in the final. Park also won a bronze medal in the individual event. At the 2007 Championships, Park helped South Korea win their third team title in a row.

Asian Games Victories

Park competed at the 2002 Asian Games. There, she won a gold medal with her team. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Park won two gold medals. She won her first individual title at the Games. She beat her teammate Yun Ok-hee in the final.

Park's second gold medal was in the women's team event. She, Yun, and Yun Mi-jin beat China. They also set a new Asian Games record. Park said she felt happier winning the team event. She was also glad the tournament was over because of the pressure on the South Korean team.

Archery Records

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Park set a new world record. She scored 682 points in the women's 72-arrow round. This record stood for almost eleven years. Her teammate Ki Bo-bae broke it in 2015. At the 2008 Olympics, Park scored an Olympic record of 115 points in a 12-arrow match. Zhang Juanjuan matched this score later that day.

Park was the first recurve archer to score over 1,400 points in a 144-arrow round. She achieved 1,405 points in October 2004. For nearly fifteen years, she was the only archer to do this.

See also

• List of South Korean archers