GBR: ON THE RISE

For the first time since London 2012, Great Britain will be sending a full complement of six archers to the Olympic Games. These six spots were won on a noisy field in Den Bosch in the Netherlands in 2019, in the primary qualification match prior to the World Championships – a moment of resolve that may well be the most important match of any recurve archer’s career. In the space of about half an hour, the men (by beating hosts Japan 6-0) and the women (by beating Italy 6-2) changed the course of British archery. Following selection in 2021, the athletes going to Tokyo looked almost identical to those who won in Den Bosch: Naomi Folkard, Sarah Bettles, Bryony Pitman, Patrick Huston, James Woodgate and Tom Hall.

Watching the almost desperate struggle for spots at the last qualification tournaments this year, following two years of stress for many major archery nations, you can