A loss could not have been sweeter for South African archer Kirsten Lewis as she was knocked out of the last-16 round by fourth-ranked He Ying 156-142 at the Panathinaiko Stadium, situated at the foot of the Ardittou Hill near the National Gardens in Athens, on Wednesday morning.
This was the highest she has featured in her three Olympic Games to date and her current 52nd ranking should go down to about 20 after this fine performance.
It was always going to be tough against the 1996 Olympic silver medallist, and the team of Manchester-based Lewis and her Oxford-based coach, Ian Simpson, could not muster the same relaxed, festive atmosphere that featured in all of their previous performances.
”To be truthful I was a little bit nervous and it may have rubbed off on Kirsten but you can’t always control your emotions but I still have my youth and good looks,” quipped the ever-jovial Simpson.
”It was unfortunate but I am happy with the way I shot, it was one of those days. I felt as if the arrows where going true but they didn’t,” said Lewis.
Throughout the 18-arrow match she was only in the lead with her first shot, a promising nine; then a sudden gust of wind blew her next shot off target to record a five. The Chinese girl seized the advantage and replied with a pair of nines, it was downhill from there and she never got closer than three points after that.
As if to show just how good she was, Ying slotted three nines then a pair of tens and a seven between 12 and 15 arrows. She led at that stage with 135-118 and could have turned around and shot the judge and still would have won the match with only three arrows to go.
Lewis rallied with a trip of eights and Ying just did enough with a conservative trip of sevens and it was game over.
”Absolutely awesome, I can’t even say I would change anything because I can’t. I am thrilled with this result. I have certainly done my bit to lift the profile of women’s archery in South Africa. For me it is now off to work, marriage and everyday life; for Ian it is a tall Guinness and back to tiling,” beamed Lewis. — Sapa