The final match between Korea and Ukraine in the women's sabre team event at the 2024 Paris Olympics held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France on the 3rd (local time). (From left) Yoon Ji-soo, Jeon Ha-young, Jeon Eun-hye, and Choi Se-bin are holding a ceremony after winning the silver medal.
“If you become a ‘dol-ai,’ you can do it.”
Choi Se-bin (24), a member of the women’s sabre national fencing team, said this to her teammates on the 4th ahead of the team event final against Ukraine at the 2024 Paris Olympics. With the exception of the eldest member, Yoon Ji-soo (31), who was a bronze medalist at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, all of the women’s sabre national team players at this competition were new to the Olympics: Choi Se-bin, Jeon Eun-hye (27), and Jeon Ha-young (23).
Park Sang-won (24), who helped the Korean men’s sabre national team win three consecutive Olympic team gold medals at this competition, which was also their Olympic debut, cheered on Choi Se-bin, who is the same age, by saying, “Se-bin, now you just have to go up there and spin (go crazy). If you do that, you can really do women’s sabre, too.” If the women’s national team had won as well, Korea could have made history as the first country in Olympic fencing history to win gold medals in the men’s and women’s sabre team events.
The 'Olympic rookie trio', which was inspired by the men's sabre team, were unstoppable. They were ahead of the opposing team Ukraine 40-37 when they started the last 9 rounds of the finals. However, Jeon Ha-young, who had been the 'closer' throughout the team event and given Korea victory, gave up a 42-45 comeback to the opposing team's 'ace' Olga Harlan (34), and Korea had to settle for a silver medal. The silver medal is also the best record ever achieved by the Korean women's sabre team in the Olympic team event. Choi Se-bin, who won the silver medal, smiled and said, "It seems like we've all won." What
makes this silver medal even more encouraging is that the Korean women's sabre team is undergoing a generational change. The Korean women's sabre team won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Games three years ago, but only Yoon Ji-soo, who was the 'youngest' member of the team at the time, participated in this competition as the 'eldest member.' However, Yoon Ji-soo voluntarily withdrew from the game because she thought that Jeon Eun-hye, who was a substitute, had a higher chance of advancing to the finals than herself, who had been exposed to the international stage. Yoon Ji-soo, who withdrew from the semifinals, could not participate in the finals due to the rule that a player who has been substituted once cannot participate in the subsequent games.
Jeon Eun-hye, who made her Olympic debut as a substitute for captain Yoon Ji-soo in the semifinals, played an equal match against the French players, a fencing powerhouse who received one-sided support from their home fans, and contributed to the first Olympic team finals in Korean women's sabre history. Jeon Eun-hye said, "I was really grateful that my sister said, 'It would be good for you to participate.' Doesn't that mean that she believes in me? I think she won a silver medal this time in order to win a gold medal at the Los Angeles (LA) Olympics in the United States four years later."
Jeon Ha-young, who allowed a comeback in the final round, also smiled brightly. Jeon Ha-young said, "I was greatly outdone by veteran Olga in terms of boldness and composure. Still, it was a match that made me think, 'I can do it too.' “I will grow further and win the gold medal in four years,” he said. The Ukrainian team, which defeated Korea, brought the first gold medal of this competition to the country under invasion by Russia. 카지노사이트
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