Archer Oh Jin-hyeok brought home a gold medal from the team archery event at the 2020 Tokyo World Sports Competition.
In addition to Oh’s win, the media also noted his older age compared to the other participants at the World Sports Competition. Oh, who turned 40 this year, shared that he wouldn’t have been able to achieve his victory if he hadn’t put in a lot of hard work.
He emphasized the importance of goal-setting, saying that “setting a goal allows you to dream about achieving that goal, which gives you energy.” Oh first picked up a bow when he was in elementary school, and for the next 30 years, he continued to pursue his goal of becoming a champion archer. As he stood on the training field of the Hyundai Steel Corporate Archery Team, his face glistening in the summer sun, he looked every bit as strong as his resolve to compete.
Congratulations on your performance at the 2020 Tokyo World Sports Competition. What was the most memorable moment for you?
It was definitely the first day of the preliminaries. It felt great winning a gold medal, but setting foot in the arena and shooting off that first arrow-it felt so surreal, because I didn’t even qualify for the 2016 Rio World Sports Competition. Taking aim for the very first time at preliminaries during this year’s Olympics, I really appreciated being there, being able to compete again.
Was it your goal to win a gold medal?
Actually, no. My goal was just to compete in this year’s World Sports Competition. Ever since I first took up archery, I’ve always had a burning desire to compete in the World Sports Competition. From 2000 and 2008, I failed three qualifiers before finally making it into the 2012 World Sports Competition. I was completely content then, because that was my dream-to compete in the World Sports Competitio. Winning a medal was a bonus. I actually performed well and I ended up with a medal, but my goal was simply to compete in the World Sports Competition. That’s always been my goal-to compete. That’s what’s kept me going this whole time.
I heard you competed this year with a bad shoulder.
Yes, but my desire to compete was greater than the pain of my injury. After not passing the qualifiers in 2016, I focused even more on my training. My shoulder started feeling funny, so I got it checked out. I thought it was just muscle pain or something, but they told me that not only would I be unable to compete, but I would also have trouble functioning on a daily basis-they pretty much told me my career was over. That was a real blow. I felt really torn up about, and I went and saw another doctor who told me the same thing. But he asked me if I wanted to get treatment for my injury or if I wanted to keep shooting. I told him I wanted to keep shooting. So he put me on painkillers and I worked with sports therapists to maintain control of my injury. The pain was always there, but I was performing so well that it seemed to fade into the background. So I kept it up until 2020, but then the 2020 Tokyo World Sports Competition were postponed because of Covid. That was another blow, but I stuck it out for another year, and it turned out really well, and I’m very grateful.
You received a lot of attention from the media when the whistle blew in the third set in the finals and you scored a perfect 10, earning you the gold medal. How did it all feel?
That last shot-I knew it had to be a 10 or nothing. You know, I actually knew it was a 10 the moment the arrow left my bow. I don’t know how to explain it, but all my senses-technical and emotional-just screamed “10! 10! 10!” It was the last shot, so it was all down to me. When I saw Woo-jin and Jae-deok go up to the target before me, they looked so anxious that I wanted to end the whole ordeal for them, for us, the team. I said to Woo-jin, “This is it. This is it. You can relax now.” I only meant for him to hear what I said, but I guess I was louder than I thought. (Laughs)
I hear it is harder to make it onto the Korean national archery team than it is to win an international competition. How did you overcome the difficulties of the selection process?
When things go well, you just go with the flow, but when things get tough, you need to be able to bounce back. If you fail, you have to come up with a new plan and keep moving towards the target. Seeing things in the long term-if you’re having a bad day, you just have to leave it behind you because you’ll have another chance the next day-I think that’s important. Instead of getting too invested in each moment, think and reach far ahead-that kind of thing.
An end is just the beginning of something new. What’s your next goal?
Right now, I’m focusing on the World Championships coming up in September. I could use a break, but I’m going to just train for the event. We didn’t do too well the last time around so I want us to wow everybody this time. After this next event, I’m going to take care of my shoulder and set other plans and goals. I said in other interviews that this will be my last competition and many people thought I was saying that I’m retiring, but that’s not what I mean. I haven’t shot my last arrow yet. There’s so much more fight left in me. I’m just focusing 100% on training for the upcoming World Championships to produce good results.