LONDON -- South Korea had on Saturday everything a country could possibly have on a single day at an Olympic Games: a feel-good gold medal; a silver medal that almost ever came; and a bronze medal that seemed as disappointing as an Olympic medal could be.
Pistol shooter Jin Jong-oh captured South Korea's first gold medal in London in the men's 10-meter air pistol event. It was also the country's first medal of any color at this year's Olympics.
Star swimmer Park Tae-hwan survived a ruling fiasco and would have overshadowed Jin's accomplishment later in the day in men's 400-meter freestyle swimming. But he ran out of gas toward the end and took silver. The men's archery team, heavy favorite to win the team gold, got knocked out in the semis and had to beat a feisty Mexico for bronze.
When the dust settled, South Korea earned three medals on the first day after the opening ceremony of the London Games. The country had hopes for up to five gold medals on Saturday alone, and its stated goal of winning 10 gold medals appeared to be in danger early on.
At Royal Artillery Barracks, Jin at least got the first gold out of the way early. He earned 688.2 points total for the top score, firing 100.2 points in the final to add to his qualification score of 588. Luca Tesconi of Italy won the silver and Andrija Zlatic of Serbia took home the bronze.
Jin won silver in the same event at the Beijing Olympics four years ago, behind Pang Wei of China. This time, Pang was relegated to fourth after struggling through the late stage of the final, while Jin held his ground and fended off the late charge by Tesconi.
An Olympic podium is becoming an increasingly familiar place for Jin. He won 50ｍ pistol silver in Athens, and gold in 50ｍ pistol and silver in 10ｍ air pistol in Beijing. He has already bagged a gold in London with his main event, 50ｍ pistol, still to come.
With the first gold for himself and the country out of the way, Jin said he doesn't expect to perform under much pressure in 50ｍ pistol.
"I just want to stay humble and give everything I have," Jin said. "I think there's almost no separation in talent level among Olympic shooters. Winning a medal has a lot to do with luck."
Park wasn't that lucky on this topsy-turvy Saturday for him. In the morning, he posted the fastest time in his heat at 3 minutes and 46.68 seconds, only to learn moments later that he'd been disqualified for an apparent false start.
South Korean officials complained, but the technical swimming committee at FINA, the sport's global governing body, rejected the appeal. But officials kept at it and took it to a jury of appeal, which reinstated Park for the final following a video review.
All the while, Park waited and waited, uncertain he'd even get the chance to defend his Olympic gold. Despite the crazy drama, Park got himself on pace to break Paul Biedermann's three-year-old world record of 3:40.07 over the first 300 meters speaks volumes about his conditioning and fitness. He refused to make the uncertainty of his day an excuse for his runner-up finish.
"It was a tough day mentally; so much happened in the course of a single day," Park said. "I think an Olympic silver is still very valuable."
South Korean male archers wished they had a bit more luck with
the weather conditions on Saturday. Unable to correctly judge
swirling wind at Lord's Cricket Ground on an otherwise sunny day,
Im Dong-hyun, Oh Jin-hyek and Kim Bub-min fell to the U.S. team in
the semifinals of the team event and had to beat Mexico to win the bronze.
The Korean trio was trying to give the country its fourth straight Olympic team title. Just about 24 hours earlier, the three had combined for a 216-arrow world record score of 2,087 in the ranking round that determined their seed positions.
Im, who was part of the two previous Olympic teams that captured gold medals, said he didn't have the same "feel" on Saturday that he had on Friday.
"I had a slow start today, beginning with the quarterfinals (against Ukraine)," he said. "I should've fixed my problems before the semis, but I couldn't do it. I just feel bad for my teammates who are in their first Olympics. I wanted to win the team gold with those guys together."
Among other action Saturday, women's handball team beat Spain 31-27 to open Group B action. South Korea has been paired with other European powers such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway and France in the group in its quest for a third straight Olympic handball medal.
Foil fencer Nam Hyun-hee failed in her bid to win an Olympic gold for the first time, and she lost to Valentina Vezzali, a familiar foe, in the bronze medal contest.
It was Vezzali who defeated the diminutive South Korean with a last-gasp attack to capture the gold by one point in Beijing in 2008. As she had then, Nam blew a late-lead against the Italian.
With the score tied at 12 apiece, Vezzali prevailed in sudden death overtime.
South Korea will send female archers to try to do what their male teammates couldn't in the team competition Sunday, with Park back in the pool for heats and semis in 200ｍ freestyle, and the men's football team taking on Switzerland in its second group stage contest. (Yonhap News)
