Dong trains eyes on Olympic gloryReported by Deccan Herald on Thursday, 7 June 2012 (on June 7, 2012)
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*South Korean archer Im Dong-hyun is so accurate with the bow he could probably hit a bulls-eye from 70 metres away with his eyes closed. Given the fact he is legally blind, shooting with his eyes wide open would hardly make a difference. *
The former world number one and double Olympic gold medallist has compensated for his poor vision with an amazing consistency, reproducing the same drawing action over and over again in training to imprint it into muscle memory. The 26-year-old, who won gold in the team event in Athens and Beijing, has learned to "feel" the shot to such an extent he spurned offers of laser surgery to correct his vision. He refuses to wear corrective lenses when he shoots as they make him uncomfortable.
"I suffer from strong myopia but I feel no inconvenience and don't see it as a problem," Im said. "My eyes have always been like that and when I was young, I didn't even realise I had a problem. "When I look at the target, I can distinguish the different colours. My myopia does not affect the scoring. I don't want to start using glasses or contact lenses because I feel no problem shooting without them." Im broke his own 72-arrow world record at the Olympic test event at Lord's by shooting 693 last October, then improved that mark again to 696 at a World Cup event in Turkey in May. "It was a surprise to break the world record again. I knew I could do it, but it's all the time a surprise to reach such a result," he said. "In the last two ends I tried to focus mainly on my shooting and not to think about the results in order to finish the competition at the same level as I shot till that moment." While South Korean archers have dominated the team event, winning the gold in Sydney, Athens and Beijing, the individual title has always eluded them. Im plans to change that in London. "First of all, win the gold medal in the individual competition..." he said of his target for the Games, "and win the team gold medal for the third time in a row."
Im, who has said he could compete until 2020, could earn the mantle of the greatest archer of all time by bringing the individual gold home to South Korea and he is already being compared with dominant figures in other sports.
"I do not know if I deserve to be called the Roger Federer of archery, but it is true that we have one point in common: if I win the individual gold at the London Games, it would also be the pinnacle of my career."
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