In spite of world-record shooting by Korean archers in the qualification rounds, Utah's Denise Parker says she couldn't have hand-picked a better seeding to begin Sunday's medal-round Olympic single elimination tournament.
"I wouldn't want to start in any other position," said Parker after she finished in fifth place at the end of qualifications Saturday at the Camp de tir Amb Arc archery stadium. "I really like where I'm at. This is what I would have picked if they'd let me."As the fifth seed, Parker was scheduled to open the competition Sunday morning against the 28th qualifier, Zehra Oktem of Turkey. In all, 32 archers moved on Saturday after the results of the qualifying FITA (144 arrows, 36 each at 70 meters, 60 meters, 50 meters and 30 meters) were tabulated.
Parker finished with a score of 1,333 - some 15 points below her career best of 1,348 - and was comfortably in fifth place, sandwiched between two Unified Team archers, Natalia Valeeva, who placed fourth with 1,346 points, and Khatouna Kurivichvili, in sixth place with 1,326 points.
The three members of Korea's women's team dominated the top three places. Youn-Jeong Cho won the qualifying rounds with a world-record total of 1,375 - a full five points higher than the previous record set by her teammate and 1988 Olympic gold medalist Soo-Nyung Kim, who finished second with a score of 1,364. Eun-Kyung Lee finished third with 1,355 points.
As a team, the Koreans' three-woman total of 4,094 points eclipsed the old world record, also held by the Koreans, by 69 points.
"They shot unreal," said Parker, whose 1,333 led the U.S. effort. Teammates Jenny O'Donnell and Sherry Block scored 1,295 and 1,271, respectively, as both also survived the cut. O'Donnell finished 20th and was to open against Ludmilla Arjannikova of the Unified Team, the No. 13 seed, while Block finished 29th and had an opening match scheduled against the fourth-seeded Valeeva.
Coincidentally, all three Americans advanced into the same eight-woman bracket. If they win, Block and O'Donnell would meet in the second round, and if she survives to the third round, Parker could meet one of them there.
More likely, however, is that Parker must survive the highest seeds in every round. That means her worst case scenario shapes up like this: No. 12 seed Natalie Nasaridze of Turkey in the second round, No. 4 seed Valeeva in the third round, No. 1 seed Cho in the fourth round and No. 2 seed Kim in the gold medal final.
"To medal, you've got to face the Koreans sometime," said Parker, "and if I got to pick which of the Koreans I wanted to meet first it would be Cho. If I face Kim I want it to be in the finals."
"Cho shot great," said Parker. "She shot unbelievable. But she also shot over her head - if you compare what she did to her previous scores. She's usually the one on their team who has the most problems."
It's Kim, the world champion in 1989 and 1991 and the Olympic champion in 1988, that Parker fears the most. "She's just so steady and so experienced," she said.
Sunday's finals - beginning with two rounds in the morning and concluding with the final three rounds in the afternoon - will feature head-to-head individual competition for the first time in Olympic archery history. Each contestant will shoot 12 arrows at 70 meters. The archer with the highest score will move on to the next round. Results from qualifying will have no bearing.
"That's good for me," said Parker. "If we had to shoot another FITA, there's no way I'm going to catch the Koreans."