South Africa’s lone archer, Kirsten Lewis, shot herself through to the last 32 in the opening round of the Olympic archery competition, held at the Panathinaiko Stadium on Sunday.
The South African advanced at the expense of India’s Dola Banerjee with a score of 141 to 131.
”The wind was so strong today … 141 is not the most fantastic score but a win is a win,” the 29-year-old chemical engineer from Roodepoort said.
The archers get just 18 shots to chalk up the highest score. The best goes through, the loser goes home. With the wind blowing across their right shoulders, the shots were often left up to chance.
Anyone could have been overawed by the setting, but Lewis had done her homework, shooting in Athens during last year’s warm-up tournament and on Saturday during the familiarising shoot.
”The setting didn’t bother me at all, I was only concerned about the wind. The conditions were tricky but we were both equally matched in the wind,” said Lewis.
Even in the cavernous stadium with an announcer and the chatter of several hundred spectators drowning out her thoughts, it was the flap of the number on her back that bothered her the most.
”The worst noise was the flap of this damn number on my back,” she said.
Ian Simpson, her coach for the past two-and-a-half years, was overjoyed with his charge’s performance in difficult conditions.
”My biggest job was to keep her relaxed and happy,” Simpson said.
But that is not a difficult task taking into account the bubbly personality of Lewis, who was laughing in between shots.
”The laughing is not put on, it is just part of me. I must have fun in everything I do,” she giggled.
The final score did not reflect how close the contest was. At the halfway stage (nine arrows), Lewis was three points behind on 65-68. It all fell apart for Banerjee with arrows 11 and 12 — harvesting two low scores — with the advantage drastically reversed to 92-84.
Lewis upped that lead by one over the next three arrows to 117-108 and then kept her cool for the last three shots. — Sapa