After yesterday’s post, Ro sent me a pretty interesting article on Im Dong-hyun, the legally blind archer. I’m glad people are asking these questions, even though it seems they’re near impossible to answer definitively. Column: World record, yes. Blind? Not exactly
LONDON — The headline sounded too good to be true: “Legally Blind Archer Smashes World Record.”
Turns out it almost certainly was.
A day after setting the first world records of the 2012 Games, Im Dong-hyun led South Korea to a bronze medal in the team event Saturday and somehow managed to leave behind more questions than answers about exactly how impaired his eyesight is.
At one moment, speaking through an interpreter, Im described himself as farsighted and said the colors in the target — almost 77 yards away — appeared “blurry, not bad … like a drop of paint in the water.”
A moment later, he said he didn’t need glasses to drive or read, unless he was tired, describing his problem as “old man’s eyes.” At yet another, he said the vision in his left eye was 20 percent of a normal sighted person and 30 percent in the right. Not long after that, his coach, Oh Seon-Tek, raised that number to 60 percent and laughed at the notion that his star pupil had any problem seeing the target at all.
Finally, after Im was asked directly a second time whether he was legally blind, he grinned widely and replied: “It’s really a matter of common sense. If I were legally blind, do you really think I could participate in the Olympics?
“I’d rather participate in the Paralympics,” he added. “There, I’d have a much greater chance to win a gold medal.”
So he’s most definitely messing with people, but exactly how much is a mystery.
And since my Olympics posts are generally all over the place, let’s take care of something else.
We have pretty solid Olympics TV coverage here in Canada, so much so that it’s hard to figure out where it all is. So since people tend to ask me these things, here’s where you can find it.
Naturally, there’s CTV. They’re the traditional broadcast network playing the NBC role, just more competently. We have access to NBC also, so there’s that. And at various times throughout most of the day, you can also find events on TSN, TSN2, the four main Sportsnet stations and OLN. I don’t think Sportsnet One is showing anything but highlights, but I could be wrong. All of this is just what’s available in English. There’s also French broadcasts available on RDS and possibly other places. We’re well set up here to catch as much as possible.
I’m hoping to see Canada pick up some hardware soon. The last time I looked over at the Women’s Cycling Road Race, all three of Canada’s riders were in the group at the front of the pack. Of course as I say that, one of the Russians is breaking away from everyone. There’s still a good bit of distance to go though, so anything can happen.
Aww. Canada didn’t win. But the Netherlands did. There’s a bit of a me connection there. I’ll take it.
So was it just me, or did his paralympics comment piss you off? He could win a medal there more easily? Ass hole! Am I just being sensitive?
It’s not just you. My first thought was along the same line as yours. Whether he intended it that way or not, kind of a dick comment there. Not the smartest thing he could have said, for sure.