"You think I'm too young, but..." The bold 14-year-old medalist: "I put in quite a bit of effort" [Okazaki On-Site]

*This content was translated by AI.

A 14-year-old athlete took the podium at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. The archer is Kang Yeon-seo, a member of the national compound archery team born in November 2011. She teamed up with seniors Park Jeong-yoon (29) and Park Ye-rin (20) to collaborate on winning the bronze medal in the women's compound team event.

Kang contributed to securing the bronze medal by competing against Taiwan in the bronze medal match of the women's compound archery team event at the Games, held on the 30th at the Multi-Purpose Plaza of Chuo General Park in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Although she failed to achieve her goal of a gold medal in the team event, she ended the competition with a victory in the bronze medal match.

She is the youngest national archery representative in history, breaking Kim Je-deok's previous record by three years. She survived the fierce competition for the national team spot, where only skill determines who earns the Taegeuk mark. And at the age of 14, she stood on an international competition podium and smiled brightly.

After the ceremony, Kang told reporters, "I practiced every day with my seniors, so I feel good that we could win a medal like this." She added, "I knew the Indian players (our semifinal opponents) were good, but it was unfortunate that we lost. Still, I think we achieved our own goals, so I view it positively."

The moment the bronze medal was secured was truly dramatic. After Korea had shot all their arrows through six ends, the gap with Taiwan, which had six arrows remaining, was 27 points. If Taiwan had scored three 9s, they would have headed to a shoot-off; if they had scored even one point higher, Korea's "no medal" outcome would have been confirmed. Considering the high accuracy characteristics of the compound discipline, it was truly a crisis. However, Taiwan's final three arrows landed on 9, 9, and 8.

Kang smiled and said, "Taiwan's last shooter is particularly good, so I thought she might hit a 10. Still, I told myself not to lose hope yet, and I held hands with my senior behind me and prayed. She ended up shooting an 8 at the end, so I am very grateful."

With this bronze medal, she became the youngest Korean athlete to stand on the podium at this Games. In response to related questions, Kang said, "People honestly seem to look at me as too young just because I'm the youngest, but I also put in a lot of effort in my own way." She added, "I will try my best to bring home a medal in the remaining individual events," which drew smiles from the press.

Kang continued, "Even though it is a bronze medal, we earned it through effort with my seniors. We did our best, and since this was everyone's first Asian Games, I think we all performed well together, making it a more valuable bronze medal than expected." She added, "Many people have supported us, but the individual events are still ahead. We were eliminated in the mixed team event, but I am satisfied with the good scores we shot. Now I will try to win a medal in the remaining individual events."

She started archery on a friend's recommendation and, after becoming the youngest national representative, won an Asian Games medal. She left a message saying, "(Moon) I-seo-ya, thank you so much for introducing me (to archery), and thank you for always cheering for me and helping me," before smiling shyly. Kang has advanced to the quarterfinals of the individual event and will challenge for the gold medal in this discipline. She previously scored a perfect 150 points in both the round of 32 and the round of 16.

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*This content was translated by AI.