Life at Full Draw: Amy Oliver Sacrificing It All For Olympic Glory

As recurve archer Amy Oliver draws a final deep breath and steadies her hands, she takes aim; a seven-point lead at the halfway stage helps to alleviate some of the pressure, but her target of a bronze medal at the Archery World Championships stands, inanimately, a full seventy metres away.

“Don’t think about the score, focus on making a good shot,” she echoes to herself. It is a little-known fact that rhythm is vital to a successful archer; Oliver’s vocal metronome settles her anchor point, steadies her bow hand and focuses her dominant eye on the target. Of course, not many people would profess to know this.

The fact remains that archery as a discipline has faced accusations of merely serving the purpose of “darts for the middle classes”; a pursuit of scarce participation, played by few watched by fewer. Admittedly, attendances at regular season events fail to inspire confidence in the future of the sport, but it should be noted that a stirring total of 35 million people worldwide tuned in to witness the archery finals broadcast live from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I’d like to try making archery a well-known sport after London 2012,” Oliver enthusiastically reveals. “Hopefully if we can win some medals then it will be getting bigger and bigger.”

Oliver won a bronze medal in the mixed team tournament at the Archery World Championships in Turin this year, establishing herself as one of the rare few with the potential to inspire an indifferent British public into an archery-fuelled frenzy come London 2012.

“It isn’t very well-known,” Oliver uncomfortably concedes. “But in a way I hope that can be a positive for us. Not many people have seen archery, so when they do see it there will be lots of questions.”

Sure to assist in lifting the profile will be the pomp and pageantry accompanying a home Olympics, something that is already cutting an imposing figure across London’s landscape. The London Archery Classic served as an official precursor to what can be expected at the 2012 Games in terms of venue, accreditation and participation for the sport. Given the British preoccupation with the so-called ‘senior’ disciplines, the brazen absence of a purpose-built Olympic archery venue on our own shores came as little surprise.

Instead, archery’s Olympic preparations pitched up to the Lord’s cricket ground – bearing that reputation as the most haughtily supercilious venue in the world – for an unfamiliar union of international archers and a venue rich in tradition.

Team GB’s male participants crashed out in the first round, albeit surrendering to Olympic champion Viktor Ruban alongside team-mates Dmytro Hrachov and Markiyan Ivashko. However, Oliver and her compatriots – Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard – stepped into the main square to defeat world champions Italy in their opening contest. The hosts were eventually beaten comfortably by China in the last four, but the signs remained encouraging for the GB selection committee, who have a number of archers vying for just three spaces in a final Olympic squad.

“We have a lot of athletes up-and-coming,” Oliver insists. “As well as Alison [Williamson] and Naomi [Folkard] we have Nicky Hunt, who has just switched from compound to recurve and won gold at the Commonwealths. There are also some juniors coming up now who are shooting really good scores. It’s very competitive at the minute, and I’m glad to have been in the top two and won a bronze medal at the world championships.”

Oliver’s compatriot Williamson provides the benchmark for all emerging British archers; the 41-year-old achieved bronze at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and offers an inspirational figurehead to hang British hopes upon.

“Even training with her [Williamson] is a big inspiration.” Oliver insists. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still shoot competitively. I’m really proud to be shooting with and against her. She has so much experience, so just being with her and looking to her for stories helps.”

As a teenager, Oliver would have witnessed Williamson’s earliest Olympic conquests; in fact, Oliver claims “when she [Williamson] went to her first Olympics, I was five years old”. Williamson’s remarkable longevity and Oliver’s brisk development has resulted in the two regularly competing against one another. Despite their relative parity as fellow competitors, Oliver appreciates that there is much to learn from her veteran colleague.

“When I watch her [Williamson] shoot, she is so confident and so focused on what she is trying to do. I’ve always thought, ‘I want to be like that’.

“I want people to look at me and think I look calm and confident. That is what I am striving for, because confidence is very important in archery. If you look nervous people think they have one over on you because you don’t look like you are ready for it. Alison is always ready for it.”

Having made comprehensive alterations to the balance of her everyday life, Oliver explains the sacrifices required to genuinely stoke an Olympic flame. Unfair perpetrators of the “middle-class darts” finger-pointing must pay heed to the devotion and perseverance actioned by these athletes.

 “I don’t see my familymuch, because I’m living out of a suitcase, up and down the country,” Oliver laments. “I’m mostly at Lilleshall where the national governing body is based and where Team GB shoot.

“I have a partner as well and I don’t get to see him much, it’s mostly just over the phone. I gave up my job to do this full-time, which was a big sacrifice. I don’t have a house, I live with my mum and dad, I don’t get to see my friends. It is a struggle but everybody knows how important it is to me.

“I’ve already sacrificed a lot; but you only get one chance,” Oliver finally utters in acceptance. “Everything for me now is geared towards the Olympics.”

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