A legally blind archer has helped South Korea set the first world records of the Olympics. Im Dong-hyun broke the 72-arrow mark with 699 points in men’s archery. He also took part in the team shoot Friday, teaming with Kim Bub-min and Oh Jin-hyek. They broke the world record, scoring 2,087 points with 216 arrows.
The London Telegraph recently profiled him and his accomplishments:
The 26 year-old, who hails from Chungbuk, already has two Olympic gold medals to his name, having won the team event in Athens – aged only 18 – and Beijing four years ago.
It is a staggering feat when one considers that he has 20/200 vision in his left eye, meaning he needs to be 10 times closer to see an object than someone with perfect 20/20 vision.
His right eye, meanwhile, is not much better – he has 20/100 vision in that one – and yet he has no problem in hitting a 122cm target from 70 metres. His emergence as one of the best archers in the world is remarkable, considering his distinct disadvantage – though Im is prickly when people take pity on him.
But the attention seems unwelcome. “I don’t have a stick, I don’t have a blind dog,” he told the Telegraph. “It‘s unpleasant when people say I’m disabled. All this interest in my sight is not welcome.”
Still, he explains what it’s like to shoot. “With my vision, when I look at the target, it looks as if different color paints have been dropped in water,” he said.
The London Telegraph recently profiled him and his accomplishments:
The 26 year-old, who hails from Chungbuk, already has two Olympic gold medals to his name, having won the team event in Athens – aged only 18 – and Beijing four years ago.
It is a staggering feat when one considers that he has 20/200 vision in his left eye, meaning he needs to be 10 times closer to see an object than someone with perfect 20/20 vision.
His right eye, meanwhile, is not much better – he has 20/100 vision in that one – and yet he has no problem in hitting a 122cm target from 70 metres. His emergence as one of the best archers in the world is remarkable, considering his distinct disadvantage – though Im is prickly when people take pity on him.
But the attention seems unwelcome. “I don’t have a stick, I don’t have a blind dog,” he told the Telegraph. “It‘s unpleasant when people say I’m disabled. All this interest in my sight is not welcome.”
Still, he explains what it’s like to shoot. “With my vision, when I look at the target, it looks as if different color paints have been dropped in water,” he said.
You can watch him in action at the 2012 archery World Cup earlier this year where he set an individual world record:
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