Who Is An San? The Korean Archer Who Won Two Olympic Gold Medals For Her Country

Olympic fans have rose in support of An San, the South Korean archer who won two gold medals for her country, setting a new Olympic record. She was being criticised for having short hair. Imagine this - a woman gets her country two gold medals but her anti-feminist countrymen rally against her for not being feminine enough.

An San topped the qualification round with record-breaking score of 680 out of 720 points. She broke the team record for Korean women's squad.

An San now holds the record for the highest individual score in the event. The archer surpassed the previous Games record by 7 points. It was set by Lina Herasymenko of Ukraine (673).

Who is An San? 6 things we know about the archer

1. An San is an archer from South Korea competing in women's recurve events. She won two gold medals at the 2020 Summer Olympics and made it to the headlines for topping the qualification round with 680 points.
2. San took up Archery while she was in Primary school. Back then, she wanted to join a newly-established archery club at her school so that she could receive a snack. However, there was only a boy's team. But after requesting the authorities, she was allowed to join the team.
3. She completed her education from Gwangju Women's University in the Republic of Korea.
4. San participated and won the International Berlin Cup 2019. This was her international debut. The same year, on July 17, she won the women's individual gold medal at the Tokyo test event for the 2020 Olympics. She defeated Deepika Kumari in straught sets at the event.
5. The archer recently made it to the news recently because of netizens' sexist comments on her short-hair which they labelled as "feminist". Some social media users wanted her to 'apologise' and even demanded that her she be stripped her Olympics title on this ground. This hatred comes in the backdrop of the rise of anti-feminist movement in South Korea.
6. Journalist Kelly Kasulis Cho tweeted in support of the archer saying that she was being targeted by a group of online anti-feminists whose taunts sometimes move from the online world to the real world.

For context: There is a prominent online anti-feminist movement in S. Korea. Ilbe comes to mind — it's a site where a lot of men campaign against women, and sometimes their taunts move from the web to the real, physical world. A hair style can launch a hate campaign.

— Kelly Kasulis Cho (@KasulisK) July 29, 2021