Archery is a sport usually
associated with Robin Hood, but in South Africa it's more in
tune with Cinderella. It has no sponsor, only a small grant
from the government and the competitors pay their own way.
But it is sending two archers to the Olympic Games in Sydney
this year.
Kirstin Lewis and Jill Borresen will represent South Africa
for the second time at a Games, having been part of the 1996
team in Atlanta. Borresen's top-40 placing at the world
championships in Rome, France, earned South Africa an
automatic slot in the women's line-up for Sydney and Lewis
took one of the three spots open to women archers from
Africa.
Both women returned this week from Europe, where they had
been taking part in the Danish Grand Prix. Lewis, who is
from Cape Town, has been in the sport for 11 years, since
the age of 13, and became interested in it through cycling.
"Sunday afternoons used to be family cycling time and often
on our way to Muizenberg we rode past the Protea Sports Club
in Retreat, where people would be involved in archery," she
recalled. "So I fell in love with the sport and I am still a
member of the club."
Archery needs intensive training and Lewis puts in three
hours a day, Monday to Thursday, and again at weekends.
She qualified at the University of Cape Town as a chemical
engineer and is involved in research at Cape Technikon.
In Atlanta she finished 30th out of 64 participants and has
set her sights on improving on that position.
Alex Kitley, who is president of the national archery
association, believes both women are "on the brink of a
breakthrough" at the Games.
"They have got great potential and if they can get through
the first round, which is a ranking competition, they have a
good chance of surprising us," said the retired Air Force
man who runs the sport from his home in Gansbaai.
Lewis says they will need some luck to get through the
Olympic rounds.
Since the last Olympics Lewis took part in the world
championships in Canada in 1997, Grand Prix events in Turkey
and Czechoslovakia in 1998 and last year back to Turkey.
This year she competed in Poland and the world championships
in France.
She did not do as well as she would have liked in France but
finished second to Borresen in the All African Championships
in Port Elizabeth during May.
"Borresen and I have been traveling together since 1993 so
we know each other well. When we compete we are serious
rivals, but once the competition is over we are friends
again. We have often finished first and second, sometimes
she's tops and sometimes I am tops," said Lewis.
Lewis' career highlights include a fifth place at the
European Grand Prix, winning the national title from 1994 to
1998 and being a member of the South African team since
1993.
"I am fully focused for the Games and will do my best and
shoot as hard as I can. The sport is mentally taxing. In
world-class events such as the Games the competitors are all
using the latest and best equipment so competition is
tight," says Lewis, who also plays water polo.
Archery was introduced to the Games in Paris, where the
second modern Olympics were held in 1900. At the next
Olympics, in St Louis, only Americans competed, the sport
being a demonstration one. But by 1908 it had full status.
However, after the sport's inclusion in the seventh Games at
Antwerp in 1920, a period of 52 years elapsed before archery
became an Olympic sport again, despite the fact that, from
1931, world championships were held every year.
American archers have dominated the modern Olympic archery,
although there has been a shift to the Far Eastern
countries, especially Korea.
South Korea's women are favorites in the women's competition
this year with three archers in the top 10.
Target archery in South Africa dates back to the 1930s, with
the first governing body being formed in 1949.
Malcolm Todd and Johanna Schenk represented South Africa at
the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Borresen, Lewis and
Leandra Hendricks went to the Games in Atlanta four years
later.
At the Sydney Olympics archers will aim at targets 70m away
in four events - men and women individual and team
competitions.
The target is 1,22m in diameter and marked with 10
concentric rings.
The centre ring, or bull's-eye, measures 12,2cm in diameter.
It counts 10 points, the outer ring counts one, and the
rings in between increase by one point in value as they near
the centre.
Archery is a sport for the young and the old. Sybil
"Queenie" Newall was 53 years old when she defeated Lottie
Dod at the London Olympics in 1908.
Eighty years after Newall's success the three Korean
medalists in the women's competition at the 1988 Seoul Games
were 17, 18 and 17 years old respectively.
This
article was originally published on page of
Cape Argus
on August 15, 2000
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