Hyundai Motor chief Chung's unwavering support for Korean archery team

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun’s love for archery is well-known in South Korea.

The executive chairman of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., together the world’s third-largest automaker, hardly misses any major archery competitions, particularly during the Olympic Games, even when he’s busy on his overseas business trips.

So it was no surprise when he showed up at Les Invalides in Paris to root for Korea's female archers who eventually captured their 10th consecutive women's team gold medal on Sunday – an unprecedented feat for Korea over four decades.

“I’ll do anything I can do behind the scenes if it helps our archers. I just want them to stay fit and perform well for the rest of the games in Paris,” he said.

Hyundai Motor Group has been the leading sponsor of Korea’s national archery team since 1985, when Chung’s father and the carmaker’s honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo assumed the position of KAA chair.

Chung Euisun took over the top KAA post in 2005.

Although he is the head of the world's third-largest automotive group, he puts everything else aside to visit the archery stadium when the Olympics begin. It was the same with the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Hyundai Motor Group has made sponsorship donations of more than 50 billion won ($36 million) to Korean archery over the last three decades, sources said.

TECHNOLOGY WINS THE RACE

In Korea’s archery community, it is not a secret that Hyundai has developed and applied the latest mechanic technology to improve bow quality and archers’ skills.

For the Paris Olympics, Hyundai set up a replica of the Les Invalides archery field at Korea’s Olympic training center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong wherein the Korean team could practice.

Before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Chung also helped the KAA set up an archery field, modeled after Tokyo’s Yumenoshima Park Archery Field.

The automotive group also developed a bow shooting robot so that archers could compete with it.

Other cutting-edge devices developed and provided by Hyundai include a multi-lens camera system used for athletes to correct their posture while they engage in outdoor training; a heart-beat measuring device; and a cooling cap designed to enhance performance even in sizzling weather.

Hyundai Motor also assisted in the design of custom-made bow grips using its 3D printing technology.

Due to security concerns during the Rio Olympics in 2016, Chung provided private bodyguard services and bulletproof vehicles to the Korean archery team in Brazil.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim and Jin-Won Kim at hu@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.