Choi Mi-sun (; born 1 July 1996) is a South Korean recurve

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

. She won gold medal in the women's team event at the 2016

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

in Rio de Janeiro.

Career

2015: Instant success

Choi made her international debut in May 2015 at the opening stage of the 2015 Archery World Cup in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, finishing her first competition with a third place in the women's individual event. Two stage wins followed at the World Cup's second leg in

Antalya Antalya is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anatolia's southwest coast, flanked by the Tau ...

later that month, Choi defeating compatriots

Chang Hye-jin Chang Hye-jin (; or ; born 13 May 1987) is a South Korean former Recurve (bow), recurve archer. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Chang was the Olympic champion in both the women's individual and women's team events at 2016 Summer Olympics i ...

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. Choi's next international tournament was the

2015 Summer Universiade The 2015 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXVIII Summer Universiade () and also known as Gwangju 2015 () was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hel ...

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''. Ki emerged victorious in what the

Yonhap News Agency Yonhap News Agency (; ) is a major news agency in South Korea. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures, and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea. History Yonhap was esta ...

called a "memorable duel", outscoring Choi ten points to nine in a one-arrow shoot-off after a closely fought match. Choi would go on to have further success later in the year, winning medals at the

World Archery Championships The World Archery Championships are a series of competitions in Archery organised by the World Archery Federation. The first competition held under that title took place in 1931. Competition archery takes a wide variety of formats, but the titl ...

and an individual gold medal at the season-ending Archery World Cup finals.

2016: Olympic gold medalist

Choi won selection to her maiden Olympic Games in the spring of 2016, joining

and defending Olympic champion Ki Bo-bae in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

as part of the South Korea women's team bid to defend their women's individual and women's team titles. 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

describing Choi as Ki's "biggest roadblock" to retaining her Olympic title. 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 The 2016 Archery World Cup is the 11th edition of the international archery circuit organised annually by the World Archery Federation. The preliminary stage consisted of three legs instead of the usual four, to make room for the Archery at the 2016 ...

. At the Olympic 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. 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. She was however eliminated in the quarter-finals by

Alejandra Valencia Alejandra Valencia Trujillo (born 17 October 1994) is a Mexican archer. Career She won two gold medals the 2011 Pan American Games — women's team and women's individual. She won bronze at 2011 World Archery Youth Championships recurve cadet ...

, the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games () and commonly known as Guadalajara 2011, were an international multi-sport event held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby c ...

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.

2017: World record

The

2017 Summer Universiade The 2017 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXIX Summer Universiade ( zh, t=第二十九屆夏季世界大學運動會, p=Dì èrshíjiǔ jiè xiàjì shìjiè dàxué yùndònghuì) and commonly called Taipei 2017 ( zh, t=台北201 ...

Taipei City , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Countr ...

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

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. The

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in September gave Choi her first World Championship gold medal. Partnering

and

Kang Chae-young Kang Chae-young (, born 8 June 1996) is a South Korean archer competing in women's recurve events. She has won numerous medals in archery competitions. Kang was born in Ulsan, South Korea. She attended . Career At the 2017 Summer Universiade ...

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. 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. She would later bow out in the final sixteen to Russia's

Ksenia Perova Ksenia Vitalyevna Perova ( rus, Ксения Витальевна Перова, , ˈksʲenʲɪɪ̯ə pʲɪˈrovə; born 8 February 1989 in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk Oblast) is a Russian archer. At the 2012 Summer Olympics she competed for her country ...

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

2018–2019: Absence and return

Choi was not selected for Korea's international team in 2018, but was named alongside

and

to contest the 2019 season.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Mi-sun South Korean female archers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1996 births Archers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic archers for South Korea World Archery Championships medalists Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in archery Summer World University Games medalists in archery FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea FISU World University Games silver medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2019 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2021 Summer Universiade Archers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in archery Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games 21st-century South Korean sportswomen Sportspeople from South Jeolla Province