Photos by World Archery
PARIS, France – Two gold medalists, three Paralympic debutants, a team of archers who did the sport and their nation proud, a whole load of magical memories and an eye already on the LA Games in 2028.
With the success for Matt Stutzman in the compound men open and Jason Tabansky in the W1 men, the 2024 Paralympic Games marks the first time the Paralympic team has won two gold medals at a single Games.
It also means that the USA archers have won at least one gold at each Paralympic Games since 2012, courtesy of Jeff Fabry, Andre Shelby, Kevin Mather, and now Stutzman and Tabansky.
The USA were denied double gold at London 2012 when Stutzman was beaten by Jere Forsberg in the final. Forsberg was one of the men Stutzman conquered on his way to gold here in France, delivering one of the top television moments of the Games. A one arrow shootoff was needed with Forsberg at the 1/8 stage. The Finnish archer went first and landed a strong 10. Stutzman brought the crowd to its feet with a shot that was just millimeters from dead center.
On what turned out to be a super Sunday, the Stutzman show had followed an equally incredible display from Tabansky who, up until the end of June, had feared he may be watching from home rather than competing, as he was without a slot. That is until Chris Davies of Australia withdrew due to injury and Tabansky stepped in and stepped up.
KJ Polish finished fifth in the compound men open in what is his third Games. He insists there remains unfinished business with a home Games four years away. Tracy Otto came up short against the defending champion in W1 women, while Eric Bennett and Jordan White went out early on Wednesday in their recurve men open competition.
Bennett, who was appearing at an awe-inspiring fifth Paralympic Games, wrote on social media, “Hard to describe the emotions I feel right now. Pure joy for making my fifth Paralympic Games and disappointment for how it ended. I worked so hard for this opportunity, but I wasn’t good enough.
“The conditions were so different in finals venue today. My first two shots were great shots but they were low right in the blue. Spun my sight three spins to get back close to the middle but it wasn’t enough.
“I can never fully thank all my family, friends, fans, and sponsors for all the love and support!!”
Bennett was defeated 6-2 by Suresh Selvathamby (MAS), the same scoreline for White in his loss to sixth seed Lukasz Ciszek (POL).
White was featuring at his first Paralympic Games and admits he learnt a huge amount during this momentous of occasions.
“Yesterday I came out here and I sat in the empty stands for an hour,” the 15-year-old began. “I just wanted to visualize myself around this stage.
“I visualized everything, took it all in, so that when I walked out there today I would be prepared and I think that it definitely served me well.
“I shot to the best of my ability. I was nervous. I had a couple of loose arrows but overall I’m happy with my performance and happy with my first Paralympic Games.”
There will be time to reflect further on Paris 2024, and it will not be too long before the focus shifts to upcoming events, including the World Archery Para Championships, which are being held in Korea next September.
“I just loved seeing continuous forward progress with this team,” coach Jonathan Clemins said. “There are tons of highlights and high moments on this trip for us. In the training camp leading into this, we were working through some issues and it really paid off. The team performed really well.”
As well as team performance, there was also an outstanding team spirit. Those not competing or about to compete were rooted to their seats in the stands when teammates were in action. When Stutzman claimed his gold medal win, the second biggest smile was etched across the face of KJ Polish, able to put aside his own personal disappointment and simply be thrilled for his teammate.
For LA 2028, the Paralympic opening ceremony will be on August 15, and the closing event will be on August 27. Archery will be held in the San Fernando Valley and the USA – as hosts – will have full quotas across recurve open men, recurve open women, compound open men, compound open women, W1 men and W1 women, which will allow for mixed teams across all those disciplines.
Clemins said with a smile, “Matt and Bennett have both alluded to media that they’re going to retire. Well, I’m not going to let it be so easy for them. We would love for them to be back in LA.
“Before that, we have World Championships next year and we have a lot of people showing marked improvement, especially on our women’s compound.
“I am just really, really excited about where this team is and the direction that we’re heading. Overall this was a huge success for us.”
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