A great extended interview with Mauro Nespoli of the Italian team, in two parts. It brings up an issue I wasn’t previously aware of: at least some of the competition in Rio will be under artificial light, sunset being around 5.30pm in August. Naturally he and the rest of the Italian squad are training accordingly.
If there’s an Italian archer out there who can translate, I think the English-speaking archery world would be your friend. But if you don’t speak Italian, Google Chrome auto-translate is your friend. Or the Google Translate add-on for Firefox. Or whatever they do on Safari. Oh, you’re still using Internet Explorer? Just get out.
“…we are at the Sambodromo, which is closed on both sides and you will not see big wind. But the unfavorable conditions are given by the early darkness; we are not used to competing under artificial light , and we’ve found a number of problems in this sense. The artificial lights create a series of problems and references to the viewfinder while shooting, this has bothered me a lot in that race, and then I carried on through the winter training with artificial light or in the dark in order to understand how they change the feelings, grasp the nuances and not get caught unprepared, understanding if the perceived through sight is real or a dangerous game of shadows… “
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – Steve Anderson (Salt Lake City, Utah) is one of the United States’ top male compound shooters. USA Archery spoke with Steve to learn about his experience as an archer, and how the fair play and friendships shared in the sport make archery so unique.
Anderson grew up in Boise, Idaho: “I originally started shooting archery when I was about 13 years old. I bow hunted with my uncles.” Anderson took a break from archery in high school when he shifted his focus to basketball. After shooting hoops through college, he returned to the target, this time for score: “I enjoy competing, so it wasn’t long before I started shooting competitively.”
Anderson quickly turned a competitive hobby into a career as a professional archer. In addition to being a member of the United States Archery Team, he is also a Hoyt Pro Staff shooter and an employee at Easton Technical Products.
Many people know Anderson as the Man of the People. He states, “I believe there are two reasons. One is because I work directly with the people in archery. Archery is a small sport, and it’s one where anybody can reach out to a top archer and get advice or tips from them. It sometimes takes me a few days (weeks, months), but I try to answer every question that I get. The sport has given a lot to me, so I try to give back where I can.”
“The other reason,” he added, on why he is known as the Man of the People, “is because I’m just some regular guy who decided to play this game and found a way to do well in it after struggling, not unlike many people who shoot today.” Anderson commented that anybody can be good at archery if they work hard enough: “I truly believe that most anyone can work their way into competitive form.”
Competitions often feature archers of varying experience levels and backgrounds. During a tournament, there is a lot of downtime between ends and while walking to and from the target, for archers to talk and relate to one another. Archers tend to help each other out, both on and off the field. “People enjoy fair play and are fairly good natured, in general. If we are capable, we lend a hand where we can. Matt Stutzman has lent his hands so many times that he never got them back,” joked Anderson about the Armless Archer.
“In archery, unlike other sports, our only opponent is the scoreboard,” commented Anderson. “There is no reason to be intimidated by an opponent.” Anderson mentions the atmosphere in archery, both in practice and in competition, enables people to make lifelong friendships and relationships. This uniqueness of our sport allows people from across the globe to find each other. “There are people who I compete against who I consider to be brothers of mine. But, it’s still ok to want to step up to the shooting line and figuratively destroy the scoreboard, figuratively leaving your friends and competitors in the dust.”
Not only has Anderson made lifelong friends through archery, he also met his wife, Mexico’s top compound archer Linda Ochoa-Anderson. Anderson’s favourite thing about his career in archery so far: “The fact that I met my wife in archery, and seeing the world with a bow in hand. I met my wife in Colombia at the World Games, and we have now competed together and traveled to about every corner of the globe sans Australia.”
“To be honest,” Anderson continued, “I expected to see Europe and the rest of the world playing in some low-level professional basketball league. Instead, I’m doing it with a bow in hand and arrows in the quiver all while wearing the Red, White and Blue on my back and competing for the greatest country on earth! To end this with a question of my own, I say, ‘How cool is that?!’”
Today is the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games, which you can read about here. It’s also a day when the Korea Archery Association has further whittled down their squad towards the exulted threes who will go to – almost certainly – take some gold medals back to Seoul from this year’s ‘big dance’ in Rio.
Regular readers will know of my particular fascination with Korean Olympic archery. Someone in Archery GB – the UK governing body – once said to me words to the effect of “you should be concentrating your blog on archery at home”. To which I replied “You don’t have a pop at Match Of The Day for mostly focussing on the Premier League, do you?”. I didn’t actually say that. I thought of it two minutes later. Of course.
The dedication required to be a world-class Olympian in any sport is immense. The dedication to being a world-class Olympic archer is off the actual chart. The genetic lottery is less important – not everybody can be Usain Bolt – but the mental discipline required simply staggers me. I don’t have it. I don’t have anything like it. I think that’s one of the reasons I’m so fascinated by elite archery.
So it’s not often you get a glimpse into what it really takes at the highest level, which I why I’m grateful for this English language interview with last year’s rookie Kang “The Destroyer” Chae Young from late last year. This is taken from Kyung Hee University’s news blog, her current school (and also the alma mater of Yun Mi Jin). It’s worth your time.
There are a lot of people who have dreams but do not put much effort into achievement. However, there is nothing we can accomplish without hard work. We cannot get anything for free. Kang Chae Young, a freshman in the Dept. of Sports Medicine, KHU, is an archer and member of the 2015 Korean national team. She has set a goal and always tried to achieve it from a young age. She won 15 medals in the first half of 2015.
Q: You are famous for acquiring a lot of medals in one year. How do you feel about being a super rookie?
I did not realize that I won a lot of them. However, I am very pleased with the medals. They are rewards for my efforts. I got good scores because I did not stop participating in competitions from April to August including the first World Cup of the World Archery Federation held in Shanghai, China and the 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade. The most memorable game was the first World Cup Recurve where I won three gold medals in women’s individual, team and mixed game. At that moment, I was very happy. However, I still have a lot of improvements to make. My ability must advance enough to do well in further competitions. A few days ago, in the National Championships, I earned a gold medal and two silver medals. There, I had to receive two silver medals instead of gold medals because I missed only a single point. I decided to overcome my shortcomings with continued efforts. I have to try harder than I did in the past.
Q: How much time and efforts do you invest in archery?
It is important for all archers to shoot arrows every day. Whenever games are coming up, I do extra practice at night and on weekends. Usually, we get break time on Saturday nights and Sundays. But to be a more outstanding player than anyone, I try to do extra. I keep concentrating on hitting the target while thinking that I will shoot more precisely than any other archers. My left hand has held a bow for long hours at a time so it is callused. Also, my shoulders easily get hurt after a lot of harsh training. These made me difficult to focus on archery and I easily get worried about future competitions. However, even in the situation when the weather was bad, I have done regular practice for six hours enduring pains in my shoulders.
Q: What motivates you to train this hard?
Setting and reaching goals motivate me to strive harder. Although I get exhausted from training hard, I never give up. I have to bear this to become a much better athlete. Harsh training is essential. Actually, I like to achieve a goal after setting it. I can feel a sense of accomplishment after doing it. For example, I am better at aiming at targets when I am in games than in practice because I have a goal to be awarded more medals.
At the same time, Kang is like any other young, bright girl in her twenties. She mentioned that she is on a diet while revealing how she enjoys eating delicious food. The interview was progressed until almost 8 p.m. which was the difficult time to grab something to eat. She expected this to happen and had prepared some bread and a cup of ice tea. It seems that she is also very considerate of others.
Q: Then, what is your dream?
In the short run, I want to be selected as an archer for the Korean national team for 2016 and attend Brazil Olympics held in the summer. My dream is to earn gold medals both in individual and team games like Ki Bo-bae, a remarkable archer. After a few years, I have the desire to be a great medalist and have a place in the history of Korea with a grand slam title. The reason I do not have an exact role model of an athlete is that I want to surpass all of them. In the long run, I will be a member of the Korean national team for 10 years from now. To achieve it, first, I will try to estimate myself better during the competitions. I usually have practiced the archery with low self-esteem. I have kept thinking of myself as poor and lacking necessary capabilities. I have never bragged about myself. However, I now notice that if I continue to do so, I would become more nervous in games and cannot show my real abilities. From now on, I will concentrate on upcoming games with the confidence and the responsibility as a representative of Korea.
Q: You may have given up on normal life, such as being a university student, to become an archer. What do you miss most?
I miss going on dates or hanging out with friends the most. Since my daily life is occupied with shooting arrows, it is difficult for me to enjoy their company. I also miss my school life as a freshman. I want to have blind dates or go on orientation trips with friends. Last semester, I applied for a yachting class but I could not attend it. I wish I could take that course again. I do not feel bad that I can only attend classes once or twice each semester. I love training and staying here in the Korean National Training Center in Taereung. I can overcome the circumstances because such experience is vital for me to accomplish my dream.
Q: Could you advise those who do not have a goal at all or put little effort toward a goal?
When people are living without a goal, life is meaningless. I hope they can find what they want no matter how long it takes. They will regret it later when they look back at their past full of meaninglessness. When setting a goal, I hope they can choose not only what they like but also what they are interested in. For those who pour fewer efforts into obtaining goals, planning even smaller things would be helpful.
Kang emphasizes, “Life is a competition. It is essential for us to make continual efforts to move our dreams forward.” In these words, the UL felt her passion and strong will to overcome further hardships and to make her dream come true.
The Korea Archery Association have picked their squad for 2016. The last 16 were cut to 8 this last week in Donghae City, the same venue as last year.
There is a special frisson about the Korean selection process in an Olympic year, given that in the list of 8 men and 8 women you are almost certainly looking at the names of several gold medalists – well, maybe. Six or more gold medalists, if you believe Infostrada.
The selection process had a special emphasis on shoot-offs, given the high profile wins and losses the KAA has seen this last cycle. KBS produced a short video about it. The squad list looks fairly similar to last year, but the shoot was crushingly dominated on the men’s side (again) by Kim Woojin and the women’s by Choi Misun.
Woojin, denied a selection place at London 2012 when reigning world champion, seems unlikely to be losing out this time – and the current wunderkinds Lee Woo Seok, Kin JongHo and Lee Eun Gyeong might beat out the more experienced hands yet. I personally hope Chang Hyejin gets to go to Rio, she was the fourth for London 2012 and is one of the few archers of her generation and ability (along with Jung Dasomi) not to have an Olympic medal.
It raises the tantalising possibility that Ki Bo Bae or Oh Jin Hyek – or even both – might be able to defend their individual Olympic titles, too – something that has never been done before. But there is little room for sentimentality or epic narrative in the KAA – all will have to go through two separate further selection tournaments to make the Olympic team.
The Rio threes will be announced on April 19th this year – just a few days before they will all (presumably) be leaving for Shanghai.
A video posted by Jong Hwan Gerald Seo (@hwanii.seo) on
Ki Bo Bae entertains what look like new Hyundai employees with a not-that-taxing trick shot last week. (Hyundai are the main sponsor of the Korean national team).
Want the front angle? Right here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCILKu7yZsO/
A list of things easier said than done, from a 16th century archery manual by Wang Ju, as translated and quoted in ‘Chinese Archery’ by Stephen Selby. More from this remarkable book to follow in due course.
The tech press are frothing about a new Samsung phone which appears to be waterproof, and who knows, other things too. Whatever. But the Korean company spilt the worldwide beans with an ad for the Indonesian market, featuring three (?) generations of Indonesian archers, including Dellie Threesyadinda and Seoul team silver medallist Lilies Handayani – her mother.
A real archer in an advert, doing real archery? (compare and contrast) Wow. Awesome.
Fascinating article this week on the OlympStats website about athletes who have competed in multiple Olympics. Turns out only about 30% of athletes make it to a second Games, although winter Games athletes have a slightly better chance of coming back, and women slightly more than men. You can read it right here:
Archery rates pretty well for athletes making it to multiple Games, reflecting the longer possible career compared to many endurance sports. When it come to athletes who have attended more than four Olympics, it sits mid-table, with shooting taking the top prize. Table-tennis ranks surprisingly highly though. The list of archery multiple Olympians is here:
4 Olympics: Aurora Bretón, Emilio Dutra e Mello, Michele Frangilli, Steven Hallard, Kyösti Laasonen, Takayoshi Matsushita, Rick McKinney, Natalia Nasaridze-Çakir, Joanna Nowicka-Kwaśna, Magnus Petersson, Cornelia Pfohl, Evangelia Psarra, Balzhinima Tsyrempilov, Antonio Vázquez, Stanislav Zabrodsky.
Alison Williamson was previously considering trying to join the elite ranks of those who had attended seven Olympics games, which would have been a UK record and a record for the sport, but decided to retire in 2014. Of the list above, Natalia Valeeva is still very much competing on the top level, although Italy currently only has a single spot qualified for Rio. As has the USA, with Khatuna Lorig qualifying a single spot in Copenhagen – but not necessarily her spot. The legend that is Michele Frangilli is also still competing, and may well feature in Rio. The story goes on. And on.
