The Berlin 2023 World Archery Championships, which closed earlier this month, was a competition worthy of being recorded as a ‘dark history’ of Korea’s self-proclaimed ‘world’s strongest’ recurve archery.

The grand goal of sweeping away gold medals in all five events came to naught when the women’s national team performed worst in history, with all three players eliminated in the quarterfinals in the individual event and losing in the first round of 16 in the team event.

In the midst of this, it was a great comfort to the women’s national team that the ‘youngest’ Sihyeon (20, Korea National Sport University) won the gold medal in the mixed team event with Kim Woojin (Cheongju City Hall).

Im Si-hyun’s arrow pierced the golden target through the capricious wind and rain in Berlin, Germany, which made senior gold medalists at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics such as Ansan (Gwangju Women’s University) and Kang Chae-young (Hyundai Mobis) struggle.

Sihyeon already surprised archery leaders and fans at her national team final selection event held in April of this year.

At the final stage of selecting 8 players from the national team and among them 4 players to compete in the Hangzhou Asian Games, she overtook prominent seniors and proudly placed the Taegeuk mark in first place.

She continued her dazzling performance on the international stage as well.

With her national team not participating in the first round of the World Cup, Sihyeon won her individual gold medal at the second round in Shanghai, China in May and the third round in Medellin, Colombia in June.

In addition, in the team event, she collaborated with her sisters to win gold medals, winning two gold medals in two consecutive competitions, raising expectations for further activity in the Asian Games.

There is a ‘strong heart’ that is not shaken in the slightest at the basis of such good results in the first year of entering the international stage in earnest.스포츠토토

Summarizing the words of archers who know her well, her strong mental strength does not come from her innately generous mindset, but rather from her self-confidence built up through constant self-examination and hard work.

Sihyeon, who is 174 cm tall, uses a strong bow. Usually, the bows used by female players have a tension of 38 to 40 pounds, but Si-hyun’s bow is 42 pounds.

She trains by shooting 400 to 500 rounds every day from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm, and if he adds up all the power of pulling a bow in a day, a 3.5-ton truck is ridiculous.

In fact, he endures a training load that is harsh for any player aiming for the Korean national archery team.

Leaders agree that Sihyeon’s biggest strength is his ‘attitude’ of quickly acknowledging a problem and fixing it.

When something doesn’t work out, he doesn’t make excuses and immediately accepts the leader’s instructions. He is proud of his skills, but since he is not obstinate, he has grown faster than anyone else his age.

He has such good crisis management skills that he managed well in the tournament even though a problem with his bow was found one day before the third national selection this year and he replaced it belatedly.

It is said that Sihyeon was not a player who stood out very much until he was in middle school. However, after entering the ‘strongest’ Seoul Physical Education High School, he quickly absorbed the teachings of his coaches and became a strong player.

Im Si-hyeon, who was born in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, did not go to schools relatively close to her home, such as Gangwon Physical Education High School and Wonju Girls’ High School, but chose Seoul Physical Education High School far away with the idea of ​​’playing in the big water’. He has not let go of his determination to become the best until now ahead of the Asian Games.

2002 Busan Asian Games women’s team gold medalist coach Kim Mun-jeong, who briefly coached Si-hyeon at Seoul Physical Education High School in the beginning of her freshman year and is now teaching at Korea National Physical Education University, said, “When I teach Si-hyeon, I mix clay and clay, but it is reborn as something with color. He said, “He is a player who really sucks everything in.”