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Seoul: For South Korea's female archers, Olympic gold medals are like family heirlooms - passed down from one generation of competitors to the next.
The nation's women have created one of the great Olympic dynasties by winning every archery gold medal since the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
They are heavy favourites to extend their streak to a seventh consecutive Games in Beijing.
Athens Olympic champion Park Sung-hyun and Yoon Ok-hee, who set a 12-arrow world record of 119 points in May, are expected to vie for gold in the individual event while in the women's team competition South Korea appear untouchable.
The athletes are confident about their chances in Beijing but under no illusions about what the Korean people expect of them. Anything less than a sweep will be construed as failure.
"If we win two gold medals, they say it's expected. If we don't win two they will be disappointed," said 23-year-old Yoon, who will get her first taste of Olympic action in Beijing. "So we have quite a bit of pressure."
Korean women hold every world record in the outdoor recurve discipline, the standard used at the Olympics but it is getting increasingly difficult to maintain such dominance, says South Korea most successful archer.
Gap narrowing
Kim Soo-nyung, who won four Olympic gold medals between 1988 and 2000, said the current team were still the best in the world but the gap was narrowing.
"I think we're half a notch ahead," said Kim.
"In the days when I was playing, we used to be a full notch ahead."
Kim won two golds in 1988 in Seoul aged 17, and retired after the 1992 Games before making a comeback for Sydney 2000.
She said the Korean team had become a victim of their own success.
"Other countries have come a long way because there are many Koreans coaching other national teams," she added.
South Korea's success seems to be built on exhaustive preparation coupled with state-of-the-art training techniques and a secret ingredient -archery DNA.
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