Ki Bo-bae
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Ki Bo-bae (; or ; born February 20, 1988) 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 ...
and three-time Olympic gold medalist. She was the winner of the women's team and women's individual events at the
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and of the women's team event again at the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
, where she also took bronze in the individual competition. Her tally of four Olympic medals places her among the most decorated archers in Olympic history. Ki was introduced to archery in primary school and by 2010 was a member of the South Korean national team. In addition to the Olympics she has achieved gold 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 ...
- becoming the women's recurve world champion in 2015 - the
Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...
, and the
Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...
, and is a three-time winner at the
Archery World Cup The Archery World Cup is a competition organized by World Archery, where the archers compete in four stages in four countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers during 2006–09) advance to an additional stage to ...
finals. From 2015 to 2017 she held the world record score for the women's 72-arrow round and has twice held the position as the women's world number one in the
World Archery Rankings The World Archery Rankings is a ranking system developed by the World Archery Federation for international competitive archery. It is calculated using a points system and published following major World Archery tournaments. The ranking system was ...
.


Early and personal life

Ki Bo-bae was born on February 20, 1988. She was introduced to archery at eleven years old when the sport was offered by her primary school. In 2015, Ki was a graduate student at Gwangju Women's University, which allowed her to compete at 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 ...
, and as of 2017 she was pursuing a
doctorate degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
. She has expressed an interest in working with athletes of the
Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...
and teaching disabled children, as well as joining the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
as a member to assist in future bids by South Korea to host the Summer Olympics. Ki announced her forthcoming marriage shortly after winning her third
Archery World Cup The Archery World Cup is a competition organized by World Archery, where the archers compete in four stages in four countries and the best eight archers of each category (from 2010, four archers during 2006–09) advance to an additional stage to ...
in September 2017. She wed in a ceremony held two months later. Ki acted as a torchbearer for the 2018 Winter Olympics torch relay.


Career


2010–2011: Early accolades

Ki was selected for the South Korean archery team alongside
Joo Hyun-jung Joo Hyun-jung (; , born 3 May 1982) is a professional former world number one archer from South Korea. 2008 Summer Olympics At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Joo finished her ranking round with a total of 664 points, ni ...
and
Yun Ok-hee Yun Ok-hee (, ; born 1 March 1985) is a South Korean archer, who won the gold medal in the team and a silver in the individual competition at the 2006 Asian Games and is a former world number one. 2008 Summer Olympics ...
to contest the
2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...
in
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
. Although eliminated by Cheng Meng of China in the quarter-finals of the women's individual competition, she won the gold medal in the women's event with Joo and Yun after the trio defeated the Chinese team in the final. At the
2011 Archery World Cup The 2011 Archery World Cup was the 6th edition of the annual international archery circuit, organised by the World Archery Federation. The best individual and mixed performers in each discipline over the three legs then joined host representatives ...
's second stage in Antalya she achieved a further team gold medal as well as a silver medal in the individual competition, finishing as runner-up to teammate
Jung Dasomi Jung Dasomi (; born 23 November 1990) is an archer from South Korea who specialises in recurve archery. Jung made a highly successful debut in international archery in 2011, winning medals at the World Archery Championships, Archery World Cup ...
. She later took what would be the first of three mixed team titles at the
2011 World Archery Championships The 2011 World Archery Championships was the 46th edition of the event. It was held in Turin, Italy on 2–10 July 2011 and was organized by International Archery Federation (FITA). The event was contested in two different areas. The preliminar ...
.


2012: Double Olympic Champion

The
2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
was Ki's first appearance at the Olympics. She began the preliminary 72-arrow ranking round with a score of 671 points from a maximum of 720, tying her at the top of the standings for the women's individual event with teammate
Lee Sung-jin Lee Sung-jin (; born March 7, 1985) is a recurve archer from South Korea. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning in the women's team event at the 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2005, she became the women's individual recurve cha ...
and Chinese Taipei's Tan Ya-ting. Ki was however ranked first and awarded the number one seed for the elimination rounds on countback after landing a higher number of arrows in the central ring of the target. With a combined score of 1,993 points, Ki, Lee, and Choi Hyeon-ju also secured the number one seed for South Korea in the women's team competition. Ki and her teammates Lee and Choi delivered a narrow win over China in the final of the women's team event, which was contested prior to the individual event, to claim their nation's seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal in the discipline. As the third and final archer in the team's shooting sequence Ki was responsible for what became the final arrow of the match, securing victory over their Chinese rivals for the third successive Olympics by a single point. Ki won her second gold medal of the Games in the women's individual event contested later in the week, defeating Mexico's
Aída Román Aída Nabila Román Arroyo (born May 21, 1988) is a Mexican archer. A three-time Olympian, she won silver medal in the women's individual event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was the women's World Indoor Archery Champion in 2014. She has addi ...
in a closely fought final which necessitated a one-arrow shoot-off to determine the winner. Having tied 5-5 on set points over the preceding five sets of three arrows each, Ki and Román were both required to shoot a single tie-breaking arrow at the target with the archer firing closest to the centre winning. The pair both proceeded to shoot their arrows into the 8-ring of the target, but as Ki's effort was judged to have landed marginally closer to the centre, she was awarded the gold medal. Ki was the sole member of the South Korean women's archery team to win two Olympic medals in London. Speaking in a press conference after the final Ki tearfully apologised for her final arrow, stating that "Koreans do not shoot eights". She also admitted she did not watch Roman's shoot her arrow because she was too deep in prayer. Outside of the Olympics Ki delivered a strong performance in the
2012 Archery World Cup The 2012 Archery World Cup was the 7th edition of the annual international archery circuit, organised by the World Archery Federation. As 2012 was an Olympic year, the World Cup consisted of three, not four legs. The best individual and mixed per ...
, beginning the competition with gold medals in the women's team and individual events at the opening stage in Shanghai. She qualified for the final stage held in Tokyo in September, where she advanced to the gold medal match and came from behind to defeat India's
Deepika Kumari Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian professional archer who competes in the recurve category. A four-time Olympian and two-time World Archery Championships silver medallist, Deepika is one of the most decorated Indian archer and th ...
.


2013–2015: Break and world record

In 2013 Ki won two gold medals at that year's
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 ...
in
Belek Belek is a neighbourhood in the Serik district in Turkey's Antalya Province. As of 2022, it had a population of 9,102. Before the 2013 Turkish local government reorganization, it was a town (''Belde''). Belek is one of the centers of Turkey' ...
, taking her second mixed team title with
Oh Jin-hyek Oh Jin-hyek (; , Hanja: 吳真爀; born 15 August 1981) is a South Korean archer. Oh first competed for the Korean national team in 1999, but did not win a major individual international tournament until he won th ...
and achieving the women's team title. Defeat to Denmark's
Maja Jager Maja Buskbjerg Jager (born 22 December 1991) is a Danish Recurve (bow), recurve Archery, archer. A two-time competitor at the Olympic Games (2012 Summer Olympics, 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020), Jager was the women's individual champion at ...
however eliminated her from contention for the individual crown. After shooting poorly in the national trials for the upcoming
Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...
in
Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...
Ki was not selected for the national team in 2014, marking the first time in four years she had not been chosen. In an interview in the newspaper ''
JoongAng Ilbo ''The JoongAng'', formerly known as ''JoongAng Ilbo'' (), is a South Korean daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the three biggest newspapers in South Korea, and a newspaper of record for South Korea. The paper also pu ...
'' published at the end of the year Ki reflected that her initial response to her non-selection was one of relief, having gained freedom the strict training regimen by which team members had to abide. She later acknowledged that she had "relaxed too much" during the trials and lost her mental focus. Watching the archery competitions at the Asian Games that September, in which she performed commentary duties for the Korean broadcaster
KBS The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS; ) is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters under the government of South Korea. The KBS operates seven radio net ...
, motivated her to work to return to the national squad. Her absence from the Korean team resulted in the loss of her position at the top of the
World Archery Rankings The World Archery Rankings is a ranking system developed by the World Archery Federation for international competitive archery. It is calculated using a points system and published following major World Archery tournaments. The ranking system was ...
, where she had held a rank of at least second since the end of the Olympics in 2012. In 2015 Ki returned to the national team after finishing the national trials in first place. At July's
Summer Universiade The FISU World University Games, formerly the Universiade, is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The former name is a portmanteau of the words "Universi ...
in
Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...
she set two new world records in the ranking round, her score of 686 points for the 72-arrow round surpassing Park Sung-hyun's eleven-year-old record set at the
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
by four points, while the combined total of 2,038 points achieved by her and teammates Kang Chae-young and
Choi Mi-sun Choi Mi-sun (; born 1 July 1996) is a South Korean recurve archer. She won gold medal in the women's team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Career 2015: Instant success Choi made her international debut in May 2015 at the ...
set a new world's best for the women's team event. Ki's subsequent victory over Choi in the final of the women's individual event represented her first gold medal win since the Archery World Cup almost three years earlier. She additionally won gold in the mixed team event. Ki won two further gold medals at the
2015 World Archery Championships The 2015 World Archery Championships was the 48th edition of the event. It was held in Copenhagen, Denmark from 26 July to 2 August 2015 and was organised by World Archery Federation (formerly known as FITA). Qualification and elimination round ...
held later that summer in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
, earning a third mixed team gold with Ku Bonchan after defeating the pair of
Lin Shih-chia Lin Shih-chia ( zh, c=林詩嘉, p=Lín Shījiā; born 20 May 1993) is a Taiwanese competitive archer. She has won a career total of four medals (one gold, two silver, and one bronze) in a major international competition, spanning the Summer Univ ...
and
Kuo Cheng Wei Kuo Cheng-wei (; born 9 November 1983) is a Taiwanese professional archer representing Chinese Taipei. He competed in Archery at the 2006 Asian Games and won a silver medal with the men's team consisting of himself, Chen ...
from Chinese Taipei. She later defeated Lin for a second time in the women's individual recurve final. By mid-August she had returned to the top of the World Archery Rankings.


2016–2017: Third Olympic gold

Ki entered the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
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 the sole returning member from South Korea's 2012 Olympic archery team. She was considered one of the favourites to win gold medal in the women's individual and team events, success in which would make her the first archer to defend an individual Olympic title and bring her level with the four career Olympic gold medals achieved by
Kim Soo-nyung Kim Soo-nyung (born April 5, 1971, in Chungcheongbuk-do) is a former member of the South Korean Olympic archery team in 1988, 1992, and 2000. She has earned a total of four gold medals at the Olympics, one for the individual ...
, regarded as the finest archer in the sport's history. Ki ended the ranking round with 663 points from 720, earning her the third seed for the women's individual event. With her teammates
Choi Mi-sun Choi Mi-sun (; born 1 July 1996) is a South Korean recurve archer. She won gold medal in the women's team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Career 2015: Instant success Choi made her international debut in May 2015 at the ...
and
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 ...
finishing ranked first and second respectively, the trio also earned the top seed for the
women's team A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...
competition. Ki, Chang, and Choi concluded the women's team event with victory over Russia in the final, securing her third Olympic gold medal and South Korea's eighth consecutive Olympic women's team title. Afterwards she spoke of the high expectations and pressure placed on the team to continue their winning streak, but noted "we just continued working together and having very strong team work and it proved to be right". Ki's bid to become the first Olympic archer to retain their individual title was ended by Chang in the semi-finals, who outshot Ki in what
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...
described as an "upset" result. Ki went on to defeat fellow losing semi-finalist
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 ...
of Mexico in the third-placed match to win the bronze medal. Ki won her second Archery World Cup title in
Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...
in September, defeating Choi in the final to become the second female repeat winner in the tournament's history. The following year she achieved her third World Cup title in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
with victory over
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 ...
.


See also

*
List of Olympic medalists in archery This is the complete list of Olympic medalists in archery. Current program Competition format: * FITA round (now known as '1440 Round') (1972–1988) * Olympic round (1992–) Men's events Individual Team Women's events Individual Team ...
*
Korean archery The Korean Bow ( hanja: , or ''horn bow'') is a water buffalo horn-based composite bow, composite Bow shape#Reflex bows, reflex bow, standardized centuries ago from a variety of similar weapons in earlier use. Due to its long use by Koreans, it is ...


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ki, Bo-bae 1988 births Archers at the 2010 Asian Games Archers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in archery Living people Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic archers for South Korea Olympic gold medalists for South Korea Olympic bronze medalists for South Korea Olympic medalists in archery South Korean female archers World Archery Championships medalists Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Summer World University Games medalists in archery Haengju Ki clan FISU World University Games gold medalists for South Korea FISU World University Games silver medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Anyang, Gyeonggi 21st-century South Korean sportswomen Archery commentators