Men’s Fencing Sabre Team Olympic 3-time consecutive champion Gu Bon-gil, quarterfinals poor performance, request for replacement Do Kyung-dong “I’m confident in my brother” encourages courage Finals one point lead crisis, but. Do Kyung-dong, 5 points in 8 seconds after being put in ‘Teamwork that believes until the end’ finally pays off
Do Kyung-dong roars after scoring 5 consecutive points Do Kyung-dong, a member of the Korean men’s fencing sabre team, roars after scoring a point in the final match against Hungary at the Paris Olympics on the 1st.
“Brother, wake up. What are you doing?”
Do Kyung-dong (25), a member of the Korean men’s sabre fencing team, said this to his oldest member, Koo Bon-gil (35), in the locker room after the quarterfinals against Canada at the Paris Olympics team event on the 31st of last month (Korean time), and said, “If it doesn’t work out, I’ll always come from behind, so play confidently. It’s okay.” Korea defeated Canada 45-33, but Koo Bon-gil struggled in the quarterfinals. After the quarterfinals, Koo asked coach Won Woo-young (42) if Do Kyung-dong should be put in instead of him in the semifinals. Do Kyung-dong replied again, “Brother, aren’t you confident? You have to be confident.”
Koo Bon-gil was a completely different player in the semifinals against France, the powerhouse of fencing. Koo Bon-gil took a 10-7 lead and went into the third round with five consecutive points to widen the gap to 15-7. With Koo Bon-gil’s five consecutive points, Korea gained momentum. Korea eventually defeated France, backed by the one-sided cheers of the home fans, by 45-39, 6 points, and advanced to the finals. Koo Bon-gil said, “My younger teammates believed in me until the end and gave me confidence, saying, ‘Hyung! Let’s do it one more time until the end.'” He added, “I didn’t think about the boos from the French fans or anything. I just thought that my teammates were behind me.”
The final match against Hungary was held on the morning of the 1st, the day after Korea time. This time, the ‘secret weapon’ Do Kyung-dong played the role of the problem solver and greatly contributed to Korea’s 3rd consecutive victory. The team sabre team event has 4 players. The individual world rankings of Oh Sang-wook (1st), Koo Bon-gil (22nd), and Park Sang-won (23rd) participated
in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Do Kyung-dong (75th), who was a substitute, did not participate in a single match. Then, in the 6th round of the final match, when Hungary was trailing by 30-29, he was replaced by Koo Bon-gil and entered the piste for the first time in this competition. Unlike Oh Sang-wook, Koo Bon-gil, and Park Sang-won, Do Kyung-dong did not even get a ticket to the Paris Olympics individual event. As soon as
Do Kyung-dong aimed his sword at Hungary’s Lav Christian, he quickly scored 5 points and ran away with a 35-29 lead. It took Do Kyung-dong 8 seconds to score 5 points. Do Kyung-dong said after the semifinal match against France that his body was “stiff because he couldn’t run,” but when he got the chance to play, he shined like a “fish in water” and emerged as a “scene stealer.” Regarding Do Kyung-dong’s performance in the final, Coach Won said, “I got goosebumps. I thought he was going crazy,” and “When Kyung-dong went up to the piste, he pointed at me and told me to trust him. When I saw that, I thought, ‘Okay, that’s it.’” Do Kyung-dong, who enlisted in the Armed Forces Athletic Corps in April of last year, was scheduled to be discharged in October, but his Olympic gold medal brought his discharge date forward by about two months.
With his victory in the final, Koo Bon-gil now has all three consecutive Olympic team gold medals for Korea. Koo Bon-gil was also a member of the sabre team when Korea won the 2012 London and 2021 Tokyo Olympics. After the final match, Koo announced his retirement from the Olympic stage. He said, “This is my last Olympics. I will definitely rest for the next year. “I have to go home and raise my children now,” he said. Koo Bon-gil’s wife is expecting her second child. Koo Bon-gil said, “Now my goal is Nagoya. I want to challenge myself.” The Asian Games will be held in Nagoya, Japan in two years in 2026. Koo Bon-gil has won six gold medals in individual and team events at the Asian Games so far, and if he adds one more, he will become the Korean athlete with the most gold medals in the Asian Games. 안전놀이터