CHIBA, Japan-- They walked into the arena to the theme music of "Star Wars" blaring through the speakers. And the South Korean fencers collectively called "The Avengers" used their swords to conquer the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.
They may not have superpowers of the Marvel heroes but Kim Jung-hwan, Gu Bon-gil, Oh Sang-uk and Kim Jun-ho of the men's sabre fencing team have done some great things together.
And their biggest prize to date came on Wednesday at the Tokyo Olympics, in the form of their first Olympic gold medal, thanks to a convincing 45-26 victory over Italy.
Kim Jung-hwan and Gu had won the 2012 Olympic team gold together, but it wasn't until Oh and Kim Jun-ho joined them that the sabre team truly turned into a global force.
A team match is made up of nine individual bouts fought by three fencers. Each member of a team faces each member of the other team once, and teams can also use a substitute.
A head-to-head bout lasts three minutes or until one team's score reaches a multiple of five.
The objective is to get to 45 points first or to have more points than the opposition by the end of the ninth bout.
South Korea came in ranked world No. 1 in the men's team sabre. These four fencers won the 2017 and 2018 world titles together, as well as the 2018 Asian Games gold medal.
On Wednesday at Makuhari Messe Hall B in Chiba, east of Tokyo, they dispatched Egypt 45-39 in the quarterfinals, and then emerged from a tough semifinals match against Germany with a 45-42 victory.
The resounding victory over Italy was somewhat anti-climactic.
South Korea built a 20-7 lead after four bouts. Even after Oh lost the sixth bout 6-5, South Korea still led 30-17.
Oh then took South Korea home by securing the final five points.
Oh, holding down the No. 1 spot in individual rankings, had been expected to win the individual gold on Saturday. He got tripped up in the quarterfinals in his Olympic debut, and later talked about fighting jitters, an unusual admission for such an accomplished athlete with a wealth of experience elsewhere.
He redeemed himself in the team final. Kim Jung-hwan only beat Luca Curatoli by 5-4 in the opening bout, and Oh helped swing the pendulum in South Korea's favor by shutting out Aldo Montano 5-0 in the second bout.
This is a particularly gratifying result for Oh, who had a bout with COVID-19 that knocked him out for a month earlier this year.
"I tried hard to forget about my individual event and to look forward to a new beginning in the team event," Oh said. "I figured there would be an upset here and there, and I was disappointed that I became a victim myself."
Oh said his coronavirus infection sapped him of energy and strength, and he still didn't have his legs under him at the Tokyo Olympics.
"At least I think I showed people that you can bounce back from COVID-19," Oh added.
Gu, world No. 9, also disappointed in the individual event, getting knocked out in the round of 32. But he proved his mettle in the team final by winning all three of his bouts.
"I had already tasted an Olympic gold medal, and I wanted Sang-uk and Jun-ho to enjoy the same feeling," Gu said. "I doubted my own ability at times, but my teammates trusted me more than I trusted myself. We all pushed each other."
Kim Jung-hwan, the elder statesman at 37, is the smallest of the bunch at 178 centimeters but uses his speed and guile to have his way around bigger opponents. He now has four Olympic medals, the two team gold medals and two individual bronze medals over the past three Olympics. He and Gu are the first South Korean fencers with multiple Olympic gold medals, and Kim is the all-time leader among all South Korean fencers in the overall medal count.
"I never thought I'd be able to win four medals in the Olympics," Kim said. "I've been able to reach this point thanks to so much help from people around me. I haven't done anything alone."
About 24 hours before the sabre team's gold, the South Korean women's epee team won silver. After watching that performance, Kim said he and his three teammates started stressing over what was to come next.
"We all lost sleep. We watched them lose in the final and thought, 'That could be us tomorrow,'" Kim said. "But on the other hand, we were jealous that they made it to the final. There was no guarantee that we would even get that far."
But the four men took care of business and ended up doing one better than the epee team.
Kim Jun-ho was the substitute here but won his only bout handily, 5-1. He is the lowest-ranked member of the team at No. 20, but he can more than hold his own against anyone. Should Kim Jung-hwan decide to go out on top, Kim Jun-ho will be ready to step in.
Kim, who also didn't get into the individual events because he wasn't ranked high enough to qualify, said he didn't want to ruin the team's chances of winning gold on Wednesday.
"I wasn't nervous. I just felt so much pressure because I didn't want to hurt the team," he said. "My teammates were really supportive, and I trusted them as well. I think I was able to perform better today than I am capable of."
Spoken like someone on a real team.
Source: Yonhap News Agency