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I’m combining
Saturday and Sunday’s journal entries because at this moment I am on a plane
taking us from Frankfort to Denver. It is 10:40 PM Denver time and we are
about half way through the flight. We had lunch after taking off and will
have dinner before landing in Denver around 4:10 PM.
Let
me begin with the Saturday happenings. Jeff, Russell and Jonathan shot their
medal matches in the morning. We all met for breakfast at 7:00 s usual and
then went out to the field for practice before their first matches began at
9:00. Jeff was up first with his men’s W1 gold medal match again Slovakia. The match was very close, but he lost to the Slovakian and so won the silver
medal. Then, a little later on, Russell shot in the men’s recurve bronze
medal match against Italy. This was a very good competition and Russell
finished strong, winning bronze.
We
then broke for lunch. After lunch, Courtney brought my bow cases up to the
room and began packing in preparation to go home while I typed up my journal
entry to and posted our trip to Prague. Then it was back to the field for
our last medal match.
Our
last match was for the men’s open compound bronze medal against Jonathan and Great Britain. This was a very fun match for several reasons. First of all, both teams
sat under the same canopy and we cheered very loudly for our teams. It
became a kind of friendly competition to see who cheered loudest and with
more enthusiasm. There was also much banter back and forth with each other.
This was Jonathan’s first head to head competition and he has only been
shooting a distance of 70 meters since March. After the first end of 3 arrows,
he was behind by 3 points, but he caught up and by the fourth end, he was
tied with Great Britain. This resulted in a shoot-off to break the tie and
determine a winner. Each archer would get to shoot 1 arrow and the highest
score would win the match. They both shot a 9. This caused a second
shoot-off; very exciting and quite unusual. In the second shoot-off, Great Britain shot a 9 and Jonathan shot an 8, but very close to the line. We had to wait
while the judges scrutinized over the score, but in the end Great Britain prevailed and won the match. Everyone agreed it was the best match of the day and one
that Jonathan should be very proud of. It takes nerves of steel to hold up
under that kind of pressure. Jonathan was disappointed, of course, but knows
he did very well. He will only continue to go up from here and has a lot to
look forward to.
After
the competitions were finished we moved into the auditorium for the medal
ceremony. They were supposed to be held outdoors, but it rained off and on all
day, so they had to make a change. This was kind of a strange thing for the
visually impaired archers. Randi told Jeff and Russell to go up front to be
in position to receive their medals when their names were called. She didn’t
tell me to go up. Courtney asked her if I was going to receive a medal and
she enquired and came back and said she was told we weren’t getting medals
because there weren’t enough of us who competed; three athletes wasn’t a
large enough number of participants. That was a little disappointing, but I
could understand it. So, the ceremony proceeded and the medals were given
out. Then, at the end of the ceremony, Ann Web, FITA representative, said
she wanted to acknowledge the visually impaired archers for their
participation. She explained why we wouldn’t be given medals and everybody
clapped for us. Then Massimiliano from Italy went up to the front, even
though Ann didn’t call anybody up, and so she acknowledged the records he
broke and the Italian team cheered and sang and it was quite a spectacle.
Sometime during all of this, the gold medal was apparently put around his
neck. Courtney didn’t see that part. Randi kind of gestured to Courtney
asking him if he thought I should go forward. Courtney looked at Paul,
Ruben’s coach and they both were puzzled. Courtney told Randi that he didn’t
think we should go up without being called and Paul nodded. Randi agreed in
acknowledgement. So that was that.
We
then went upstairs and had a team meeting. We were given certificates of
participation and then were told the schedule for departure the next day. We
were to be downstairs in the lobby by 2:15 AM to load up and go to the
airport. We were free to do as we pleased. There was going to be a party
down in the auditorium with a band at 7:00 PM which was optional. We could
go to bed or not, but if we chose to go into town we were to be back by
10:00. Courtney and I asked our equipment coach, Paul Miller, if he would
like to go into Nymburk for dinner. He hadn’t had a chance to get out and
explore the wonderful walk into to town or to take any pictures of the area.
So that’s what we did. We took him on the walk along the river and over the
dam and the bridge that goes by the castle wall and the church. We decided
on pizza and had a very nice and relaxing dinner. The people speak very
little English, but one of the waitresses spoke some and helped us pick out
one with salami, tomatoes and cheese and one with chicken, tomatoes and
cheese. The menu is in Czech and there are no pictures. We had ice cream
for dessert and enjoyed a pleasant walk back to the sports center.
When
we got back, we were greeted outside the lobby by Ann Web who said she had
made a terrible mistake at the medal ceremony. She said that we should have
been given medals and she had been given the wrong information. She said she
was as surprised as we were when Massimiliano received the gold medal
earlier. I guess she had been waiting for us to return so we could hold
another ceremony in the lobby for Ruben and me. This was very unexpected and
quite unusual. I said that would be great and so Ann said to give her a
minute to round up some people to show support and we would begin the
ceremony. Randi rounded up our team and they went to get Ruben. Athletes,
and coaches and I’m not sure who all gather in the bobby and Ann explained
the blunder and then we began. She called me first to come forward and
receive the bronze medal and it was put around my neck. Then Ruben was
called up to receive the silver medal and they took pictures and the people
cheered very enthusiastically and pictures were taken. We shook hands with a
representative of the Russian team and I think the Dutch team. We were given
flowers and it was really very exciting and quite special.
We
then said our good byes to Ruben and Paul and said we would keep in touch
definitely. We have a lot to discuss about visually impaired archery
regarding trying to put more specific rules into place for the next World
Championships. We have spoken to the Italy coach as well and he will help us
collaborate with France as well. So this was an invaluable experience for
all of us involved with visually impaired archery that came to participate.
It was very disappointing that more countries didn’t come to participate and
show FITA how serious we are about the sport and how much we want to be taken
seriously and to be included fully. Hopefully next time we can convince more
countries to bring their visually impaired archers.
We
got up at 1:00 AM this morning and arrived at the airport at 4:00 AM. We
were given sack lunches to take with us on the bus ride. Can you imagine two
sandwiches, a banana, a candy and a bottle of water at 2:30 in the morning?
Some of the team ate theirs and some decided to forgo the cheese and cucumber
sandwich and the cold Canadian bacon sandwich on white bread for a Subway
sandwich at the airport. I ate the banana and had an espresso and left it at
that. Jeff and a couple of the team members went shopping for a gift for our
coaches to show our appreciation and we gave it to them while we were sitting
at the gate. We boarded the plane around 9:30 and took an easy 40 minute
plane ride to Frankfort. Then we were escorted through the airport, getting
our passports stamped and going through security and on to our gate where we
had just enough time to go to the bathroom before boarding the plane to Denver where we will all go our separate ways. I was able to log onto the internet in Prague and post a tweet on twitter, but the airport in Frankfort required me to by time on
their wireless, so I couldn’t tweet from Frankfort.
Courtney
and I are seat partners with Paul Miller and they are on either side of me.
They are in their own little worlds enjoying the many movies available to
them on the movie screen on the seatback in front of them. I have finished
the book I am reading and have been able to write out my journal entry which
I will post when we get to the hotel tonight. We should be arriving in Denver around 4:10 and our plane ride to San Francisco leaves at 6:10. We have to go
through customs, so I hope there aren’t any delays. Kallie, the team leader,
told us to bring a U.S.A. shirt to put on before we get off the plane because
it might help us get through the process quicker if we look like a team.
They don’t like us to travel wearing our U.S.A shirts for security reasons
which is interesting. They don’t want us to be a target.
The
thing I am most excited about is picking my Liza girl up from San Rafael tomorrow. I really miss my girl. The white cane is definitely going away for a
while.
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