British archers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
The international rankings of British archers in recent years leave much to be desired. Not often British won prizes in popular international archery tournaments. And, of course, the situation was aggravated by the pandemic. But be that as it may, in 2019, six archers received qualifications for the Tokyo Olympics.
At the 2020 Olympic Games, Great Britain will be represented by: Tom Hall, Patrick Huston, and James Woodgate, Sarah Bettles, Bryony Pitman, and the ultra-experienced Naomi Folkard, who will lead the team of archers.
Many of us have never heard of any of these athletes. Therefore, in this article, we will tell you a little about the achievements of these archers in international tournaments.
Naomi Folkard has represented Great Britain at the Olympics 4 times. In 2016, Naomi announced that the Rio Olympics will be the final in her career. She planned to devote herself to a coaching career. But as we can see, Naomi got the opportunity to represent the country at the Tokyo Olympics. And her experience will certainly be useful to the team of British archers.
Naomi has participated in dozens of international archery tournaments: the World Archery Championships, and the Archery World Cup. She was a prize-winner in the individual standings and the winner in the team events in many tournaments. Naomi Folkard, with her professional experience and archery equipment, has a very high chance of winning a prize at her fifth Olympics.
Patrick Huston will represent GB at the Olympics for the second time. Now aged 25, Patrick began his career as an archer in 2004. He has won many junior and cadet archery competitions. In 2015 and 2017, he won international archery competitions in Slovenia and Morocco. Also, in 2017, Patrick became the first archer to win the Great Britain National Series Recurve title three times in a row.
Tom Hall, James Woodgate, Sarah Bettles, and Bryony Pitman will head to their first Olympic Games.
Tom Hall silver and bronze medalist in several international competitions. Tom Hall juggled his Ph.D. studies with the Olympic squad’s rigorous training schedule. Here you can find some short lessons he has learned from the front lines of academia and sport.
Sarah Bettles with Naomi Folkard and Bryony Pitman won in the women’s recurve team event at the 2019 European Games, the competition took place in Minsk, Belarus. In addition to her team victory, Sarah Bettles has also won medals in several international archery competitions.
Bryony Pitman currently has a silver medal in World Cup Stages and few medals (gold, silver, and bronze) in World Championships. This 24-year-old athlete has enough experience to compete with dignity at her first Olympics.
James Woodgate is 19 years old, and he is the youngest member of this British Olympic archery team. In his career, there have not yet been high-profile victories in the international archery arena, but this is a promising archer who was able to get into the British Olympic team.
At the moment, it is also known that Great Britain will be represented at the Paralympic Games by Nathan MacQueen, Jess Stretton, John Stubbs, and Hazel Chaisty.