Republic of Korea’s An San marked her name in the history books on Friday, winning the women’s individual archery event in Tokyo to become the South Korean triple gold medalist at a Summer Olympics.
An San defeated ROC’s Elena Ospova in a tense shoot-off final (6-5) to win her third gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Elena Osipova of the Russian Olympic Committee claimed silver in the Archery women’s individual event. Italy’s Lucilla Boari won bronze and became the first Italian woman to win a medal in archery at the Olympic Games.
“When it was all over, I felt like my heart was going to explode. I wasn’t really thinking about winning my third gold. After winning my two team titles, I only wanted to let luck take care of everything. I guess I got lucky today.” said An San
A few days back, An San also broke a 25-year-old Olympic record by posting a score of 680 in the women’s individual ranking round. A day later, An, alongside Kim Je-deok, became the first-ever winner of the inaugural Olympic mixed team archery event. And with the third gold, the Republic of Korea has won nine of the last 10 Olympic Games in the women’s individual event. Also, she is the first athlete with three gold medals in Tokyo.
An San faced anti-feminist trolls
Despite winning three golds, An San’s short haircut has attracted anti-feminist sentiment at home. She was criticized by male citizens in her home country for her hairstyle. It is understood that the amount of hatred people have for feminists has motivated them to troll San. They even ask for her medals to be taken away. According to male community sites, short hair cuts on females are a sign of feminism.
A New York Times reporter Kelly Kasulis Cho on Twitter said ‘this is a display of the online anti-feminist movement in a country where haircuts can still be controversial among select groups’.
According to the reports in the Independent, when a netizen had asked An San why her hair was short. An San replied that it was “because it’s comfortable”. Some South Korean politicians and celebrities posted messages and their own short-hair photos to support.