The 10th round was the most exciting and ended on Sunday afternoon in a shootout against China, with each scoring three points. South Korea won by a tiny margin and a score of 29-27, in front of a jubilant crowd with Korean flags waving.

“First of all, as a Korean athlete, I am very proud to be a Korean athlete,” said 30-year-old Jeon Hun-young.

Yes, why not? After all, no matter what team one supports, it’s not as good as hers. She and 21-year-old Lim Si-hyeon and 19-year-old Nam Su-hyeon had just joined the most demanding parade of the Olympics, which had already passed through Seoul, Barcelona, ​​Atlanta, Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro without trembling in the ticklish realm of silver. It just hadn’t won yet with the Eiffel Tower as its backdrop and right in front of the Dome des Invalides, home to Monsieur Bonaparte’s tomb.

By 2028, it could reach 11 somewhere near the HOLLYWOOD sign.

For now, it’s 24 South Korean women from 10 South Korean teams with three women. One of the 24 won on three different teams, and four of them won on two. Six are 50, six are 40, six are 30, five are 20, and, because they apparently missed a teenager, here’s 19-year-old Nam, who won’t turn 20 until next January.

Just mentioning their names can induce digital fatigue, while at the same time indicating what a miracle this thing has become: Kim Soo-nyung, Wang Hee-kyung, Yun Young-sook, Cho Youn-jeong, Lee Eun-kyung, Kim Jo-Sun, Kim Kyung-Wook, Yoon Hye-Young, Kim Nam-soon, Yun Mi-jin, Lee Sung-jin, Park Sung-hyun, Yun Ok-Hee, Joo Hyun-Jung, Choi Hyeon-ju, Ki Bo-bae, Chang Hye-jin, Choi Mi-sun, An San, Jang Min-hee, Kang Chae-young, Jeon Hun-young, Lim Si-hyeon, and Nam Su-hyeon.

Aiming from 70 meters (almost 230 feet) in small, contemptuous concentric circles, they have won time and time again and then some.

“For South Korea,” Lim said, “it’s very important to keep the first place. And we’ve also changed a lot of teams. And I’m very happy to keep this place in Korean archery history.” She quickly added, “Other countries have made a lot of progress, but we will do our best to keep our place.”

She said this, of course, with the necessary calmness and without any arrogance.

The Koreans won at the Acropolis in Athens in 2004, when the crickets were chirping outside and everyone in attendance was happy and South Korea trailed China 240-231 with one dart to go, before Park Sung-hyun would say she was simply leaving it to the divine will when her final bid ended in a 10. They won at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London in 2012 when it came down to the final dart against China again, with Ki Bo-bae needing a 9 and getting one for a 210-209 victory. They have beaten China, Germany, Ukraine, China again, China again, China again, China again, Russia, a collection of Russian athletes and China again in the final. It is no wonder that China hired a Korean coach. “He told us to be ourselves,” said China’s Li Jiaman.

The selves they brought under the impressionistic Parisian sun looked good enough to steal the phenom from the 10th Olympic Games. Then again, the Koreans had to wriggle out of more bushes than ever before. Since the format switched to six-dart sets at Rio de Janeiro 2016—two points for a set won, one for a draw, and five points for a set won—the two most recent South Korean teams had played 18 sets, winning 14 and drawing four.

In the three rounds on Sunday, South Korea lost five sets and took advantage of some nerves from their opponents. Chinese Taipei almost took the first set in the quarterfinals, with only an eight to win, but got a six to lose. They won the second set anyway, but then South Korea started with 10-10-9 and started with a 6-2 victory.

The Netherlands then put the Koreans behind in a semi-final, two sets to one, after the Dutch overcame a 29-point demand when all three — Quinty Roeffen, Gaby Scholesser and Laura van der Winkle — made 10s. Well, South Korea went on, spending the fourth set 10-10-10-10-9-10. Who does that? Them, of course. That one also went to a shoot-off, and the Koreans had the steadier hand, going 9-10-7 to win 26-23.

With the final just an hour away from the semifinals, the Koreans looked unbeatable and took a 4-0 lead. That raised a hue and cry about one of the most unfortunate human habits in sports: live announcers at events that offer perspective. If the Koreans could understand passages of North American English like “can etch their names in stone forever” and “a legacy to carry on their shoulders” just as they were preparing to win, they might have regretted their English lessons.

And while much of the match continued to the sounds of happy Mexican fans in the streets between the venue and the dome, as Mexico claimed bronze, China promptly won the next two sets to level at 4-4, and the dynasty faltered. But when Jeon and Nam sandwiched 10s between Lim’s 9, and Li finished with an 8 when he needed a 10 to draw level, four more years of preparation ended with another gold.

“We always focus on training,” Jeon said, “and we all like the challenge of achieving a new goal. So we all did our best, and that’s the key to success.”

So the three of them got a flag, turned around to the different stands and posed for pictures with all their fingers up to represent the number 10. If Los Angeles 2028 comes, that act could be tricky.