Ku Bonchan completed an historic clean sweep for South Korea with gold in the men's individual event ©Getty Images

South Korea completed an unprecedented clean sweep of the archery gold medals at Rio 2016 as Ku Bonchan secured the men's individual title with victory over Frenchman Jean-Charles Valladont at the Sambódromo today.

The nation had already topped the podium in the other three competitions to be held in the sport at the Olympic Games and Ku ensured they would write their names in the history books with a 7-3 success against a battling Valladont.

American Brady Ellison bagged his second medal of the Games by overcoming Dutchman Sjef van der Berg 6-2 in the clash for bronze.

Ku, who is also a double world champion, raced into a 4-0 lead by taking the opening two sets before Valladont began to launch a comeback, halving the third before clinching the fourth.

But his challenge faded in the fifth and final set as two scores of eight proved costly, allowing the 23-year-old to take full advantage as he went on to wrap up what proved to be a nervy win.

The path to the final had been fraught with difficulty for Ku as he had to squeeze through tense one-arrow tiebreakers with Australia's Taylor Worth and Ellison in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.

The South Korean had to come through nervy quarter and semi-finals on his way to the gold medal match ©Getty Images
The South Korean had to come through nervy quarter and semi-finals on his way to the gold medal match ©Getty Images

"I’m so happy, tonight will be very beautiful as well," the South Korean said.

"Maybe we might have a party tonight because it’s all over."

The result saw Ku become just the second archer from the Asian country to win the men's individual Olympic crown, following in the footsteps of London 2012 gold medallist Oh Jin-hyek.

It also enabled South Korea to lay claim to the first-ever sweep of the gold medals on offer at an Olympic Games.

They came close to achieving the feat in 1988, 2000, 2004 and 2012, winning three of the available titles at each event.

Ku was considered as on outsider for the title but his chances greatly improved when team-mate and number one seed Kim Woojin, who shot a world record in the ranking round, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Indonesia’s Riau Ega Agatha in the second round.

Asked how long the country can dominate international archery events, Ku added: "I’m not sure yet, but this is sure, we do every time our best to prepare for the Olympic games every year."

The men's competition brought archery at Rio 2016 at the iconic Sambódromo to an historic close.