Korea’s archery team swept all four gold medals in the archery championship in the Rio 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the first time in the history of the Olympics. It was persistent efforts that helped those Korean archers achieve the feat, archery sources in the country said. But their smashing success in Rio had some significant backers.
Chairman Chung Mong-koo of Hyundai Motor Group and his son, Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, provided support to the Korean archers to develop their skills over the past three decades. They invested some 45 billion in grooming the archers enough to win the gold medals in the Olympics over that time. Both father and son headed the Korea Archery Association for the past 32 years.
The senior Chung and his son’s love and support of the Korean archery team has been an absolute force. They continued to lend support to the sport despite archery being an unpopular sport in the country.
Their support came in a number of ways, including funds and high-tech R&D, while the senior Chung was leading the Korean Archery Association from 1985 to 1997. He is still the honorary chairman of the association after letting his son take over.
Chairman Chung thought that a new archer was needed that will fit the physical characteristics of Korean archers. He also found out in 1990 that foreign archer makers gave new equipment to their archers first. The chairman ordered the development of new archery equipment for Korean archers and directed the R&D unit of Hyundai Motor Group to lend their support in developing new technologies for archery. As a result, Korean archers have archery equipment that is uniquely attuned to their physical characteristics. The chairman also asked the archers to practice their skills at a baseball park full of fans.
While on a trip to the U.S. in 1986 before the Asian Games took place in Korea, he bought heart beat measuring equipment and eye test equipment for Korea’s archers.
He also supplied the archers with Korean food while they competed abroad.
His unique style of work at Hyundai Motor was also used at the archery association, especially in training the archers. His style of work has been characterized by his dogged concern for detail and steadfast push until all targets are accomplished. He worked the same way in running the archery association.
The junior Chung took over from his father as chairman of the archery association in 2005. He has been acting like a big brother to Korea’s archers, giving them support where it is needed.
Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun, Mong-koo's son, has led the association since 2005, investing about 38 billion won ($34 million) in the country's archery teams.
The group's continuous financial support has provided the archers with the science-based training they needed to win their Olympic gold medals.
The "scientific training project" of Hyundai Motor Research Lab strengthened the archers' mentality, which is deemed especially important in archery.
The South Korean archers measure their brainwaves for concentration, watching videos of specific situations that are likely to occur at the archery range. They also play smartphone games, such as "Arrow Shooting" or "Ball Bouncing" to warm up their mental training in the morning.
"Scientific training programs helped South Korean teams clinch the gold eight consecutive times," archer Chang Hye-jin told foreign reporters after she defeated the Russian team in the women's archery team finals.
Last year, Hyundai Motor Group constructed a new archery range, one similar to that in Rio, at the Korean National Training Center in Taereung, northeastern Seoul.
South Korean archers could get used to a 50-centimeter higher shooting zone of the Sambodormo archery venue, while other countries' archers hardly adapted to the venue's differences from those in previous Olympics. When the national archery team arrived in Rio on July 28, Vice Chairman Chung ordered a resting area to be provided for the archers near the archery venue. The Korean archers were provided with Korean food and given the best environment for relaxation. Hyundai Motor Group also donated five vehicles — one Equus and four Tucsons — to transport the archers.
"Our company is considering rewarding the gold medalists, just as we did with the 2012 London Olympics medalists," a company official said. "Hyundai Motor Group will continue to support the national archery team."
_현대차 양궁02.jpg)
