9 September 2009 - World Archery Championships – Quotes of the Individual Finals

Recurve Men
LEE Chang-Hwan (KOR) - gold How was your feeling to compete against your teammate? This is my first individual gold in international competition, so I’m really happy to win! Furthermore, it was really nice to match up with such a great archer as Dong-Hyun. He has won so many medals!
Everybody was working hard and practiced very comfortably. I think that everybody’s great attitude helped us to be top.
Too many times I lost in 1/8 eliminations. This year I really wanted to compete until the end!
IM Dong-Hyun (KOR) - silver How was your feeling that you lost the challenge of winning gold for the second time in a row? I’m sorry about getting a silver medal in the final match, but I’m happy to hold this world archery championship in Ulsan Korea. It was great chance to win, but, at the same time, it was not meant to be. Today, Chang-hwan was better. I’ll do my best again the next time.
Overall, it seems that the men’s team was well-prepared in this competition. Are there special reasons for that? It has been the same practice as usual and there isn’t special reason. However, I think there is a great emulation between us. It was great help for practice.
Recurve Women
JOO Hyun-Jung (KOR) - gold How are you feeling after winning the gold medal? I can’t tell very well, it is overwhelming! I didn’t do well at the last Olympic Games in the individual competitions, so this time I am so happy that I won gold. It was hard, I am so happy I did it!
Really I can see the improvements on my game since last year. I manage to calm down, to concentrate on the target until the last moment. Last year, I was more disturbed by other archers, I was feeling the pressure. This time, however, I tried to concentrate on each arrow I was shooting.
KWAK Ye-Ji (KOR) - silver How was the final match against your teammates? In a sense I thought it is good for her to win gold medal because she is older than me (smiling). However, when I was on the field of course I wanted to win. Even though I am happy that I got the silver medal, there will be many other opportunities. I’ll try to get the gold next time.
Natalia SANCHEZ (COL) - bronze How was today’s shooting? -Very good, Very exciting!
Do you have any special preparation and strategy? No, no special strategy. I thought that I had a lot of hard working with my coach with my teams.
How was your feeling after finishing this final match? I’m happy because it’s the first time Colombia wins a medal at world championships. This opportunity can be a new start to Colombia and it’s really encouraging us.
Compound Men
Reo WILDE (USA) - gold This is my 10th world championships medal but this is the first time that I am the individual outdoor world champion, it is really special!
Maybe it seems that I had a little gap over my opponents during the competition, but I can tell you that sometimes it was closer than it seemed.
The secret to stay at the top level is to keep training hard every day. It may sound banal to thank my wife, my dad and family for what I have achieved, but in reality it is not banal. My wife has pushed me to go to practice every time, even the days when I did not really want. My dad was the 1997 world champion, he has been a role model and he introduced me to target archery. Although today he is home, it has been pretty special to win some world championship medals with him in the team in the past.
Liam GRIMMWOOD (GBR) - silver I am pretty happy to have come so far. I shot less World Cup this year than the previous and I actually pretty relaxed to these championships. I was open-minded, I took each match at the time and it went really well. There is nothing wrong to lose against Reo in the final; he is pretty much a legend of archery!
 
Stephen CLIFTON (NZL) - bronze I shot really well in the 3rd and 4th end of the bronze medal match. I actually told myself to relax and have fun and it worked out much better than when I was worrying about it. I am sorry for Jose who has been now two times 4th at the world championships, but this is archery. You shoot for yourself.
I hope it put somehow archery on the map in New Zealand, that it triggers some media interest. I hope we can build on this for the future with our national competitions.
Compound Women
Albina LOGINOVA (RUS) - gold It is incredible! I am so happy! I have won here the individual and the team gold medals! When I finished 2nd in Leipzig 2007, I was young. My technique was not so solid and I lacked of experience.
During the last two years, I have set up the goal to become world champion and I have worked for it. I became stronger and I also gained experience on the various finals fields that I could play on during the world cup.
I would like to thank FITA, the organisers to put such a good event together, to allow us to do such a show! I need to thank the other athletes as well, because we need many high level athletes to create exciting matches. Finally, I would to thank all my coaches who have helped me during so many years.
Jorina COETZEE (RSA) - silver Maybe I surprised the world because I am 17 and somehow who would not be surprised to win a silver medal at the world championships? In my mind I knew I could do it. When I shot the youth world championships two months ago, I already knew that I would come here, so it was good preparation. Between juniors and elite, the distance is the same, so technically it is the same. Of course, the archers are more mature. There is more density in the level. Now I’m very proud of my achievement and I’m very happy.
I hope now to keep shooting at high level and one day win gold.
The other good news is that I will be able to play another youth world championships in two years. I hope also to compete in the World Cup soon. There are just plenty events and medals to go for!
Laura LONGO (ITA) - bronze I did not shoot well my semi-final. On the final, I thought only on my technique and tried to shoot well. I worked a lot to get this bronze. I am happy!   FITA Communication With the precious help of the volunteers KIM Hye-Jung and KIM Seon-Yeong