Brady Ellison is The pinnacle of archery history.
of 35 year old American He has qualified for his fifth Olympic Games since Beijing in 2008. He has won three Olympic medals and has long been ranked number one in the world in recurve events.
He wants to go even further. Currently ranked fourth in the world, he feels he has a good chance of winning Olympic gold. He won team silver in 2012 and 2016, and individual bronze in 2016.
He believes that, taking all his other achievements into account, reaching the top step of the podium in Paris would undoubtedly put him among the greats of the greats.
“It's always been my goal to be one of the best archers of all time,” he said. “I still feel like I'm a good shooter. I'm still one of the top archers in the world.”
There was a moment when it looked like she might win gold: She went into the Tokyo Olympics ranked number one in the world, but lost in the quarterfinals to Turkey's Mete Gazoz.
“I wouldn't say I did anything wrong necessarily,” he said. “I missed when I shouldn't have. I had chances and could have won the set when I didn't. I thought the wind was blowing but I misread it. I hit one arrow to the right and the next one to the left. If either of them had hit, the match might have been different.”
Ellison exudes confidence, and he spreads it around to others. He's had great success partnering Casey Kaufhold, the current No. 1 women's skater in the world. In 2019, when Kaufhold was 15, the two won gold in the mixed team event at the Pan American Games.
Kaufhold recalled how helpful Ellison was as a mentor in the lead-up to the Pan American Games.
“He could tell I was hesitant,” Kaufhold said, “he could tell I was a little nervous and he told me over and over that although this seems like a big thing, you don't have to do anything special. Just do what you can, take your chances and just have fun. So he's helped me a lot with a lot of different things.”
Ellison has dealt with painful injuries and health problems over the years, but is now in relatively good health. As a child, she suffered from Legg-Calve-Perthes disease and wore a leg brace. She had surgery to stabilize one knee so it wouldn't dislocate when she walked. She injured the fingers on her painting hand and has had hip problems. Last year, she injured her shoulder and collarbone at the Pan American Games.
None of this has led him to consider scaling back or quitting the sport.
“I'm good at it,” he said. “I've been able to stay in the top seven in the world since 2010. I'm the highest-paid guy in the United States and this is my whole job. This is my living expenses and everything else. So I'm just going to keep fighting and keep rehabbing and get through everything I can so I don't have to get a real job.”
Ellison's gregarious personality matches the energy of a crowd well — there were no spectators in Tokyo because of the COVID-19 pandemic — and he's looking forward to filming in front of fans.
“I definitely benefit from the support of the crowd,” he says, “and I think it's the same in any sport. When you're shooting the biggest tournament of your life, having crickets in the stadium versus having people cheering you on from behind makes all the difference.”
He wants to bring home the gold medal, but knows a lot of things have to go right for that to happen.
“That's the thing about the Olympics,” he says, “when finals day, medal day comes, the guys who are still there are in good form and it makes them really tough to beat, no matter who they're playing against.”
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AP Olympics https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympics
