Getting to know the U.S. Olympic archery team

www.archeryoutpost.com — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:33:16 +0000

With the 2012 Summer Olympics coming up in London in two years, athletes around the world are busy training. Though not a traditional “team”, the United States’ Olympic archers are preparing as hard as anyone. Several hopefuls are still in the running, such as Kristin Braun, who has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last year. The athletes from the 2008 Olympic Team are not sitting on their laurels, either.Brady Ellison started out shooting on a compound bow but switched over to the recurve (the only bow allowed in the Olympics) in 2005. He became a resident athlete at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California in 2005. At the 2008 Olympics he was narrowly defeated in the second round with a score of 113-107.Butch Johnson is a veteran Olympic archer, helping bring in the gold in 1996 and the bronze in 2000. In his off time, Butch helps manage Hall’s Arrow in Connecticut and helps raise his son, Richard. At the 2008 event, he was part of a team with Ellison and Vic Wunderle, which took 10^th in the ranking round but was defeated in their first round.Khatuna Lorig was a former archer for the Unified Team (former Soviet Union) in 1992, where she earned a bronze medal. At the 2008 Olympics, she made it to the quarter final but was succeeded by South Korean archer Yun Ok-Hee. She has a degree in Physical Education from the Physical and Sport Institute.Jennifer Nichols started shooting with her siblings at the age of 9 and got involved with the Junior Olympic Archery Development Club. In addition to archery, she enjoys dancing and rifle shooting. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the young archer overcame Ika Yuliana Rochmati in the first round, but was narrowly defeated by Nami Hayakawa in the second with a score of 105-103.Victor Wunderle calls Mason City, Illinois home, and his family has a long background in archery. His grandfather and father were both hunters, and it could be this family tradition that helped him win the silver medal at the 2000 Olympics and take 8^th place in 2004 and 6^th in 2008. With this track record, Wunderle could be on his way back to another medal in 2012.

Archery Outpost » Olympic Team

Getting to know the U.S. Olympic archery team