PARIS, France – Set your alarms, have coffee at the ready, tell your boss you will be working from home and be decked out in your finest red, white and blue as archery competition at the 2024 Olympic Games begins in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Archery starts when it does due to its proximity to the Seine, on which the Opening Ceremony will take place on Friday. Archery is being held at Invalides and is sharing the venue with cycling and the marathon.
Invalides was originally built as a soldiers’ retirement home, with it being completed in 1676. It is the final resting place of some of France’s most notable military figures, including Napoleon Bonaparte.
Against the backdrop of such history, USA’s archers will be eager to create a little history of their own in the French capital. Up first, starting at 1.30am MT on Thursday, is the women’s individual ranking round involving Casey Kaufhold, Catalina GNoriega and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez.
“I remember watching the Olympics when I was little,” began Kaufhold. “I used to be super into gymnastics and seeing Simone Biles in Rio wearing her leotard with the Stars and Stripes, and I was like ‘I want that. I want to be such a good representation of the US’, and so to be wearing the Stars and Stripes and going to my second Games, it’s a great feeling.”
The men’s ranking round gets started at 6.15am MT on Thursday, with Brady Ellison featuring at his fifth Olympic Games.
“Making my fifth Games, it feels different,” Ellison said. “I’m calm, I’m relaxed – and not that, ‘oh, it’s no big deal, it’s my fifth Games’ – that’s not the feeling at all. It’s just a completely different calmness than I’ve ever had going into a Games.”
Ellison has two Olympic team silver medals (2012 and 2016) and an individual bronze (2016) to his name. Kaufhold and Mucino-Fernandez were both on the team in Tokyo three years ago, while GNoriega was alternate for those Games and makes her debut in Paris.
“Compared to Tokyo, it’s a different feeling,” commented Mucino-Fernandez. “I’ve been shooting with this team for a long time now and we’re a really cohesive team, and it just feels amazing.”
GNoriega said, “The goals for Paris 2024 are winning medals and also having fun with it. We know we can do well and if we just go out there and shoot how we know we can shoot, we’re going to do well and we’re going to be very happy with the results.”
After Thursday, the next time our archers take to the Olympic stage will be on Sunday when the first of the medals will be determined, in the women’s team event. Individual elimination matches, starting at the 1/32 round, begin on Tuesday.
Mixed team competition is set for August 2, with the last two days of archery being individual competition, starting from the 1/8 round for both women (August 3) and men (August 4), all the way through to the medal matches.
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All four athletes competing at the Olympic Games will be in Lubbock next month for the Chinook Seedery USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open, as well as five of the USA team heading to Paris for the Paralympics.
Brady Ellison, Catalina GNoriega, Casey Kaufhold and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez have committed to competing in Lubbock, a week after returning from the Olympic Games.
Eric Bennett, Tracy Otto, K.J. Polish, Jason Tabansky and Jordan White will also be at Target Nationals and U.S. Open just days before they themselves depart for Paris.
Registration for the Chinook Seedery USA Archery Target Nationals and U.S. Open remains open until August 4.
