PARIS, France – On a day when Hollywood came calling, KJ Polish and Matt Stutzman moved into the 1/8 round of the compound men open at the Paralympic Games on a wet and windy afternoon in the French capital.
Inside the finals venue, and with spectators in attendance, Stutzman stepped up first among the two US archers, firing off five maximums from his first five arrows to establish a lead he would not relinquish.
His match against Victor Sardina Viveros (MEX) was significant in that, according to Stutzman, it was the first at a Paralympic Games involving two armless archers. Stutzman defeated Viveros 142-136 and was subsequently whisked away to a meet and greet with Hollywood action man Jackie Chan, who is seemingly a fan.
Stutzman said, “Craig Spence from the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) sent me a message yesterday saying, ‘dude, what would you say if Jackie Chan watched you shoot?’
“And I was like, ‘oh, yeah, whatever. Jackie Chan ain’t going to come and watch me shoot'. And sure enough, as soon as I win, we come off stage and World Archery were like ‘come with us, Jackie Chan wants to meet you guys’.
“It was legit. We walked in and he just starts hugging on me. It was crazy and I didn’t even know what to say. I’ve watched all his movies since I was little and he said to me ‘I came to just watch you’.
“I’m like, ‘mind blown’. For someone who has that aura about them, to hear that they’re motivated by me. I’m motivated by him. He’s a superstar and yet here he is looking at what I’m doing and is motivated by it.”
With a laugh, Stutzman then added, “So, as long as he doesn’t make any movies about armless archers … unless I’m the archer, and I can be my own stunt double.”
Stutzman certainly stuck to the script in his contest, which is more than can be said for Polish, who followed about an hour later. And while Stutzman overcame an archer ranked five places above him after Thursday’s qualification rounds, Polish trailed by a point heading into the fifth and final end against Fernando Gale Montorio (ESP), ranked 19 places lower.
“This may be hard to believe,” Polish began. “But I was calm and collected up until that last round.”
Polish fired off a 10 with his first arrow of the final end, before Montorio struck a seven. The match was back in the hands of the man from Pennsylvania and he would win by two, 142-140.
“We began that last round and I’m saying to myself ‘I’m down a point; I might lose’. I got nervous and I held better. Maybe I need to get nervous the rest of the way.”
Polish is competing in his third Paralympic Games. Last time around, when the Games were held in Tokyo three years ago, he went out at the same stage, defeated 145-143 by Finland’s Jere Forsberg, who is Stutzman’s opponent in the next round.
Polish admitted, “That match today was my stepping stone. I needed to get over that mental hurdle because of what happened in Tokyo, but now I feel unstoppable, I really do.”
Next up for Polish is Jonathan Milne. The Australian fired four perfect ends before finishing with three nines as he posted a 147-142 win over Yuya Oe (JPN), setting up what should be quite the contest on Sunday.
From the calm and collected Polish to the showman that is Matt Stutzman. He has already said that these will be his fourth and final Paralympic Games and admits to getting a little emotional when his name was announced before his match, knowing that he was shooting in front of his family.
“That was the most important thing that I’ve probably ever done in my career,” he said. “Just having them in the stands, I was trying not to cry when they introduced me because I knew how important it was and I will never have an experience like that again.”
The elimination matches continue on Saturday, with Tracy Otto facing Liu Jing of China in the W1 women 1/8 round. Live TV coverage is on Peacock.
Upcoming Schedule
* times in ET and subject to change
August 31:
3:17am – W1 women 1/8 round: TRACY OTTO vs. Liu Jing (CHN)
September 1:
4:08am – W1 men 1/8 round: JASON TABANSKY vs. Eugenio Santana Franco (BRA)
10:38am – Compound men open 1/8 round: KJ POLISH vs. Jonathan Milne (AUS)
11:12am – Compound men open 1/8 round: MATT STUTZMAN vs. Jere Forsberg (FIN)
September 2
3:20am – W1 Mixed Team quarterfinals: USA vs. Italy
September 4
3:00am – Recurve men open 1/16 round: ERIC BENNETT vs. Suresh Selvathamby (MAS)
4:59am – Recurve men open 1/16 round: JORDAN WHITE vs. Lukasz Ciszek (POL)
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