Published : Aug. 11, 2016 - 10:03
Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald
South Korean sabre fencer Gu Bon-gil competed before hundreds of fans at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and with a million butterflies in his stomach.
The 2012 Olympic champion in the men's sabre team event lost in the round of 16 in the individual event here, falling to Mojtaba Abedini of Iran by 15-12.
It was an unexpectedly quick exit for the world No. 4, especially since Gu had never lost to Abedini in their four previous meetings.
After the defeat, Gu said he tightened up too much.
"I was more nervous than I thought I'd be, even I tried hard not to be so tense," he said with a sigh. "This is extremely disappointing."
Gu said Abedini has long been one of his toughest opponents in Asia.
"We had some close bouts in the past and I managed to beat him a few times," Gu said. "But I think I was more nervous than before because this was the Olympics."
Gu's early exit is a microcosm of South Korean fencing's struggles in Rio. After winning two gold medals and six medals overall in London four years ago, South Korea was shut out of a medal over the first three days here. The upstart epee fencer Park Sang-young finally ended the drought with the individual gold medal Tuesday.
"Because we got off to a slow start, I was determined to go out there and turn things around for the team," Gu said. "And I wanted to ride the positive momentum from Sang-young's gold medal, but it wasn't as easy as I thought it was going to be." (Yonhap)