A South Korean archer who is legally blind set the first world record of the London 2012 Olympics in the men’s ranking round.

In the middle of the perfectly manicured training area of the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground, the photographers swarmed South Korean archer Im Dong-Hyun, jostling to capture a moment of history even before the London Olympics officially began. Im Dong-hyun broke his own 72-arrow mark of 696 by three points and was also part of a record in the team shoot.

Im, considered legally blind with 10 per cent vision in his left eye and 20 per cent in his right, set a new individual world record and was part of another world record-setting team in the ranking round of the men’s archery event.

Alongside Kim Bubmin and Oh Jin-hyek he helped register a 216-arrow total of 2,087 – smashing the world record by 18 points.

The day’s shooting got under way in perfect conditions, with the Korean trio setting the standard from the off.

Not bad for an athlete who says he just aims for a “blow of yellow colour” 70 metres away.

“It’s just the first round so I won’t get too excited about it,” he said.

They took the three top seedings, with world number two Im again leading the way, breaking the world record for the third occasion since the London 2012 test event.

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