Brady vs Woojin: the greatest final ever?

Was this the best final ever seen at an Olympic Games? Maybe.

It was a day of the highest quality shooting, on a field that seemed almost meant for high scores. And it produced the ‘dream final’ – the two most dominant males of the last 14 years, neither of whom had ever won the biggest prize. But one of them had to lose.

The battle between Woojin Kim and Brady Ellison for the men’s individual title, had been brewing since day one – according to Ellison. Unfancied on his way in to the Games after an indifferent outdoor year, the pressure was definitely off.

“I peaked at the right time,” the US archer said. “If you would have said that I’d be standing on a podium three weeks ago, I would have told you you’re high.”

A change to Ellison’s draw length just three weeks ago – apparently he added an inch and three eighths to his arrows – had worked.

“In practice, I was rolling in scores that like I haven’t shot in a long time and I knew if I executed in here that I would walk away with the medal – but I didn’t want to think about it.”

Anyone who had seen Ellison’s impressive performances in the mixed team would have known that he was in with a strong chance at the men’s draw. But Woojin’s impressive form all the way through seemed to be telling. The back-to-back 30s were, well, back.

The 32-year-old Korean had survived unscathed battles with world number one Marcus D’Almeida, reigning Olympic, World and European Champion Mete Gazoz and his own teammate Lee Woo Seok to get here – all of whom had been talked about as potential champions leading into these Games. Ellison swatted aside Berkim Tumer, Kim Je Deok, and an unlucky Florian Unruh on the way to the showdown.

It would be a testy, winding final with multiple surprises.

Woojin opened slowly with a nine and an eight, but that wasn’t a first. Brady seemed dialled in from the gun, until a loose couple in the second, with the wind picking up, saw the match level at 2-2.

Brady’s opening ten in the third seemed to energise him again, and he was soon ahead, before Woojin edged the fourth. It seemed fitting, given the quality on display, that the match was even – but the Korean fans were noticeably quiet.

Then came the fifth set, at 4-4. It didn’t seem fair, that this match should be decided by an edged point, the most minor slip. It needed more drama, and it delivered with each archer delivering perfect, almost drilled 30s to set up the shoot-off. It was a spectacular moment of quality.

The pause. Ellison talked to his coach.

“I just said that I just wanted to shoot as many arrows as I could in this stadium – but I didn’t expect it to end in a shoot-off. And then just stick to the plan. You just get up there and make a good shot.”

Woojin stepped up. There was no indication of nerves. He did what he had done over a million times – nervelessly delivered the arrow.

“There was a bit of wind, so I aimed around 3pm. It actually went towards the south, a little bit lower. So I kind of had a bad feeling,” the Korean said.

A very beatable ten, just inside the line. It almost invited Brady to do better. Ellison drew, and executed. It was a ten, but just outside.

Perhaps there was two, maybe three millimetres in it. It wasn’t really fair, that this decided the difference between gold and silver, after such a massive struggle, such history. But it did.

That arrow made Kim Woojin the greatest Korean Olympian of all time – by total gold medals, at least. But on that stage, in the moment, this wasn’t about national or Olympic records.

It was about two men who had first competed against each other a decade and a half ago, and who could still share a joke. Both archers and their coaches held their hands up joined together on the final stage. It was a small gesture that said a lot; that both of the archers absolutely deserved to be there.

As Brady and Woojin worked their way through the media afterwards, both were highly complimentary about each other.

“I think that when we both hang our bows up it will be probably one of the greatest duos there’s ever been in archery,” said Ellison. “Between him and I, and everything that he’s done and been able to do. It’s impressive to be shooting in the same time as him.”

“For Brady, I think he’s a perfect archer. As Messi and Ronaldo are to football, we are to archery,” Woojin responded wryly. 

But both had already indicated that they wouldn’t be packing everything up quite yet.

“I think we’re going to do a rematch in LA28,” predicted the 35-year-old Ellison.

“I think that’s a final that World Archery and all the fans across the world have always wanted. I’m not upset that he barely beat me in that shoot-off or whatever it was, you know what I mean?”

“We shot like champions and that’s what it’s all about."

The final clap on the archery competition at the Paris 2024 Olympics.