International Olympic Committee : News

YOG graduates shoot for success in Olympic archery competition

7/30/2012 9:46:00 AM

Shooting in true style, Tan Ya, at just 18, ranked an impressive third out of 64 places. Though aiming for gold, the modest archer told us her performance still has room for improvement. But the secret to her success, she reveals, is treating the Olympics just like any other competition. That way, the cool-headed youngster can keep control of her nerves and keep her emotions out of the game.

Team USA’s Miranda managed to rank 14th, and she couldn’t contain her excitement: “I’ve had my hopes on being here for a very long time and now today I’ve officially shot arrows to score at the Olympic Games!”

Shooting since the tender age of five, she’s come a long way since the Youth Olympic Games two years ago: “I made a really big deal about Singapore; I was really stressed about my performance so now I’ve just learnt to relax.” Always keen to pass on her Olympic wisdom, she advises budding athletes to just keep doing what they’re doing: “It’ll come if it has to come,” she told us.

Saturday’s results saw Miranda, Tan Ya and Mariana all progress to the quarter finals with their respective teams the following day. Unfortunately, that’s where the Olympic dream ended for all three, but with solid performances from all of the YOG athletes we’re sure this is not the last we will see of these ladies.

©IOC Young Photographer Billy Rowlinson

Story by Iram Sarwar, YOG Reporter

Republic of Korea claim another gold - London 2012 - Archery

7/30/2012 12:00:00 AM

They have triumphed at the competition in every Games since it was added to the schedule in Seoul in 1988, and extended that proud tradition at London 2012.

Lee Sung Jin, Ki Bo Bae and Choi Hyeonju defeated Chinese trio Cheng Ming, Fang Yuting and Xu Jing 210-209 in wet and windy conditions at Lord's.

It is the third time in a row China have finished in the silver medal position behind the Koreans, though none of the archers involved four years ago in Beijing are on duty in London.

The match was decided on the last arrow, when Ki needed at least nine to secure victory, and she held her nerve to hit the outer gold.

The bronze medal match was won by Japan, who defeated Russia 209-207 to claim the first women's Archery medal in their history.

Ren Hayakawa, Miki Kanie and Kaori Kawanaka came all the way through the draw - having just missed out on a first-round bye - defeating world number threes Ukraine 207-192 and Mexico 219-209 in the quarter-final.

Speaking after the Victory Ceremony, Ki explained why it had fallen on her to secure the win.

'Lee shot the first arrow because she is the brave one and I shot the last because one I have more experience,' she said.

'I wasn't nervous at all because if I do my best I know it will go in the gold.'

Medals up for grabs in seven sports this week-end at London 2012

7/27/2012 10:54:00 AM

Athletes will be chasing gold in archery, cycling, fencing, judo, shooting, swimming and weightlifting on Saturday, with a total of 12 Olympic titles up for grabs.

The men’s team archery competition will take place at Lord’s Cricket Ground, with Korea’s Im Dong Hyun aiming to become the first archer to win three gold medals in the event, following his successes at the 2004 and 2008 Games.

Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin Hyek will join him in the Korean team, but they will face stiff competition from the USA, whose team features individual men's No.1 Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Jacob Wukie.

In cycling, the men’s road race will see competitors tackle a 250km out-and-back course that is the longest in Olympic history and features nine laps of a 15.5km section, the highlight being the short but steep Box Hill climb. Up to one million spectators are expected to line the route, which will start and finish on The Mall in central London.

Reigning world champion Mark Cavendish from Great Britain and Germany’s Andre Greipel will be among the top sprinters while attackers such as the Belgian Philippe Gilbert and Peter Sagan of Slovakia will be hunting for a breakaway.

In the ExCeL centre, which is hosting the fencing competition, Italy’s Valentina Vezzali will be chasing a record fourth consecutive individual Olympic gold medal in the women’s foil. With three individual and two team Olympic gold medals, as well as six individual and seven team world titles, Vezzali is already the most successful single-weapon fencer in history and will also be trying to become the first woman to win four consecutive individual gold medals in any sport at the Olympic Games.

The judo events also get underway on Saturday at ExCeL, with medals up for grabs in the men’s -60kg and women’s -48kg events. Uzbekistan’s world no.1 Rishod Sobirov will be aiming to add an Olympic gold medal to his men's -60kg world title and the bronze medal he won in Beijing in 2008, while Romania’s Alina Dumitru will be hoping to defend her women’s -48kg title, after winning gold four years ago.

The Excel centre will also play host to the weightlifting events during London 2012, with the women’s 48kg gold medal due to be contested on Saturday. China’s four-time world champion Wang Mingjuan will be among the favourites to strike gold.

Saturday will also see the Olympic medals awarded in both the women’s 10m air rifle and men’s 10m air pistol events, which will take place at the Royal Artillery Barracks.

Defending champion Katerina Emmons from the Czech Republic could become the first athlete to win consecutive gold medals in women's 10m air rifle, but she will have to beat Olympic debutant Yi Siling of China, who is the world-ranking leader and 2010 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) world champion.

In the pool, fans will be treated to four finals on the opening night, with the USA’s Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps set to go head-to-head in the men’s 400m individual medley, and medals also up for grabs in the men’s 400m freestyle, the women’s 400m individual medley and the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

Golden Opportunity: Im Dong-Hyun

11/2/2011 10:37:00 AM

Olympic, World and World Cup champion Im Dong-Hyun, from the Republic of Korea, has been one of the top recurve archers for almost a decade. He is aiming for gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Q. How did you discover archery?
A. I started when I was 10 years old. After watching the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta on TV, I wanted to start archery very much. Fortunately, my school had an archery club, which made it possible for me to start training. When I made the National Team I started to dream of going to the Olympic Games.

Q. What are your memories from the Olympic Games?
A. In Athens in 2004 the archery competition was held in the historic Panathinaiko Stadium, which hosted the first Olympic Games of the modern era in 1896. Beijing 2008 was different in that everything was very big. I was particularly impressed with the atmosphere in the crowd, especially the Korean supporters who were cheering us on.

Q. Who were your Olympic heroes or role models when you were younger?
A. Ever since I watched the 1996 Olympic Games on TV, the members of the Korean men’s archery team from that time have been my heroes: Oh Kyo-Moon, Kim Bo-Ram, Jang Yong-Ho. I really wanted to be like them and I respect them to this day.

Q. What is your key to success?
A. First of all, I have learned the basic skills very well. When I was young I was also very lucky to have older, more experienced archers give me advice.

Q. What is your training programme like for the 2012 Olympic Games?
A. I am a professional archer and train six to seven hours a day. Up until now I have been focusing on the World Championships, which took place in July in Turin, but now that we have qualified I can begin thinking about the Olympic Games. I will practise very hard next winter in order to be ready for London.

Q. What is your main goal for London 2012?
A. First of all, to win gold in the individual competition, and then to win the team gold medal for the third time.

Q.Who will be your main rival in London?
A. I have many rivals, firstly my team-mates, but also USA’s Brady Ellison, Ukraine’s Viktor Ruban, the archers from China… Everyone can be dangerous.

Q. Can you tell us about your myopia and how it affects your shooting?
A. I suffer from strong myopia, but I feel no inconvenience and don’t see it as a problem. My eyes have always been like that and, when I was young, I didn’t even realise I had a problem. I don’t want to start using glasses or contact lenses because I feel no problem shooting without them.

Singapore 2010 adopts new sport formats

8/12/2010 3:39:00 PM

The first Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore will feature all 26 sports currently on the programme of the London 2012 Olympic Games. What will differ in some cases are the disciplines and format, such as 3 on 3 street basketball, a mixed gender relay in the swimming pool, a medley relay on the track or events in which athletes from different National Olympic Committees compete on the same team. Read on to see what your favourite sports will consist of in Singapore...

Aquatics (diving and swimming)

Aquatics comprises diving and swimming. There will be two diving events for both men and women, 3m springboard and 10m platform. Swimming events include freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and medley, both individual and relay. As a first, a mixed gender event for 4 x 100m freestyle relay and 4 x 100m medley relay is included.

Archery

Archery will feature individual men, women and mixed team competitions. The distance that athletes will be shooting is 70m.

Athletics

Athletics comprises a total 36 events for both men and women. The track events will include 1000m and 3000m races as well as a 2000m steeplechase and a medley relay. There will be eight field events (four jumps and four throws).

Badminton

Badminton will feature men’s and women’s singles events in Singapore.

Basketball

Basketball 3 on 3 will be played at the YOG. There will be two teams of three players on court at any one time. This fast-paced game is played on a half court, with one basketball hoop. It includes two periods of five minutes each. The winner is the first team to score 33 points, or the team that is leading the game at the end of the fifteen minutes of play.

Boxing

Boxing will feature men’s events. There will be 11 different weight categories, ranging from 48kg to the 91kg+ division.

Canoe-Kayak

Canoe-Kayak will feature four events for men and two for women. Both will race
in head-to-head sprints and obstacle slaloms in the kayak category. The men will also compete in the same events in canoes.

Cycling

The Cycling competition will involve teams. Each team consists of three men and one woman. The three men are required to compete in one discipline each (BMX, MTB and Time Trial), while the woman has to compete in all three disciplines. All male riders also have to compete in the Road Race.

Equestrian

In Equestrian, only the jumping events will take place (team and individual). The Organising Committee will provide the horses, which will be assigned to riders by draw. For the team event, there will be six teams representing each FEI regional zone.

Fencing

Fencing will feature individual competitions in the foil, epée and sabre for men and women, and a mixed team competition.

Football

Football will consist of a six-team competition, representing all continents, for both men and women.

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is split into artistic and rhythmic, as in the Olympic Games. The artistic competition will feature eight individual men’s events and six individual women’s events. The rhythmic competition consists of two events – individual and team – for women.

Handball

Handball is a six-team tournament, representing all continents, for men and for women.

Hockey

Hockey is the same as football and handball – a six-team competition, representing all continents for both men and women.

Judo

There are a total of eight weight categories for both men and women in the Judo competition. There is also a mixed team event.

Modern Pentathlon

The Modern Pentathlon competition consists of four of the five modern pentathlon disciplines: fencing, swimming, running and shooting. The fifth discipline, riding, will not be competed at Singapore 2010. The run-shoot format will be competed. In the Combined event, laser shooting is being used for the first time.

Rowing

Both the men and women will compete in two events in Rowing – single sculls and pairs.

Sailing

The Sailing competition comprises four events, with men and women sailing in either the one person dinghy or the windsurfing.

Shooting

In Shooting, the men and women will compete in both air rifle and air pistol.

Table Tennis

Table tennis will consist of men’s singles, women’s singles and a mixed team competition.

Taekwondo

Taekwondo will see athletes competing in five weight categories per gender.

Tennis

There will be both men’s singles and doubles and women’s singles and doubles in the Tennis tournament.

Triathlon

The Triathlon competition format for individual competitions includes a 750m swim in open water, a 20km cycle ride and a 5km run. The 4 x mixed team relay competition includes a 250m swim in open water, a 7km cycle ride and a 1.7km run.

Volleyball

Volleyball is a six-team men’s and women’s competition.

Weightlifting

Weightlifting sees men competing in six weight categories, while women will compete in five weight categories. The combined results of the Snatch and the Clean & Jerk will produce the champion of each weight category.

Wrestling

The Wrestling competition will see men compete in Greco-Roman (five weight categories) and freestyle (five weight categories) and women in freestyle (four weight categories).