An archer from Chad has captured hearts in South Korea and been hailed by a K-Pop star for his “true Olympic spirit” after a Games debut where he almost missed the scoring rings.
Israel Madaye scored just one point with one of his arrows in the men’s individual against top South Korea archer Kim Woo-jin, who rattled home an almost perfect score of 88 out of 90.
He composed himself to score 25 out of 30 in the final set and finish with 66 points.
Madaye had carried the central African nation’s flag at the Paris opening ceremony, but turned up without his chest guard for the round of 32 contest and his extremely rare one point score has made him an unlikely hero in archery powerhouse South Korea.
After local media reported that Madaye taught himself archery with limited resources, gave up his career as an electrician and trained at a cemetery to become an Olympian, South Koreans flooded his Instagram page with support.
Among them was K-pop star Kwon Yuri, who posted: “I look forward to seeing you at the next Olympics. I’ve learned the true Olympic spirit (from you). Thank you, athlete Madaye, and I support you!”
Others wrote: “What shines brighter than 10 points is that unwavering spirit of yours”.
“From Korea with respect,” said another and “(We’d) like to see you in South Korea. You are always welcome”.
The Chadian archer posted two pictures of himself at the Olympic venue in Paris, with one of the captions saying: “Thank you very much Republic of Korea”.
South Korean archers have dominated the sport for decades, winning 30 Olympic golds since 1984. They have won all three golds contested so far in Paris.
Kim, who has progressed into the last eight of the men’s individual, has already won two team titles in Paris to increase his personal Olympic tally to four golds.
He will be targeting a fifth when the remaining rounds take place on Sunday.
Madaye told Korean broadcaster KBS in Paris that South Korea is virtually the only country that has shown interest and support to him since he was eliminated.
He told them he had studied YouTube videos of Korean archers before the Olympics.
“The biggest issue in Chad is the shortage of supplies. There are no toy arrows or new targets for the children,” he said.
When asked about his wayward arrow, Madaye said he had not been “too stressed”.
“Since I worked hard to prepare for the Olympics, I would’ve been satisfied even if I ended up scoring zero.”
