4th place “still sucks” says Sjef

On recurve Sunday morning in Odense, Sjef van den Berg quietly, efficiently knocked out World Archery Champion and multiple world record holder Kim Woojin to make the semifinals.

It was a shock – but maybe not a big shock. Van den Berg, ranked number three in the world, also ended up going much deeper than the Korean athlete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, after Woojin was eliminated in the second round.

“I knew that I had to shoot against Kim today because people kept telling me, but I didn’t even look the schedule up. The first arrow that went into the seven, I didn’t notice anything wrong. Maybe it caught the wind a little. With the tension and all you don’t feel if your shots are perfect. For the rest I actually shot quite decent except for a left eight,” recalled Sjef.

Despite the big Korean scalp, van den Berg was unfazed.

“I don’t feel nervous against any particular person anymore. It doesn’t really make a difference who I’m shooting against, during the shot at least,” he said.

“During the match there are moments that I think, for instance, Woojin needed to shoot a 10 in the second end to clinch the set, and I kind of assumed that he would do it. That’s a difference that I don’t have with all of the people I shoot against, but it doesn’t make a difference for the actual shooting.”

“It’s impossible to not notice what your opponent is doing, but you try to judge as little as possible, you get the information, but you don’t really register it, you hear it but you don’t listen. Or try not to listen!”

Sjef made the Hyundai Archery World Cup Final via strong placings and an individual win at stage one in Shanghai.

“This weekend for me was already a privilege to be here, amongst the top eight in the world, and to win the first round is awesome. The odds were against me, to say the least. It’s great that I’ve at least advanced to the second round, and I’m going to be in a medal match for sure. I’m just going to give it my everything now. I didn’t manage to train a whole lot before this. My physical condition isn’t quite there, but it’s good enough for 15 arrows in a match,” he said.

Van den Berg’s individual fourth place at the Rio Olympics is, of course, a bittersweet memory.

“I think I’m still processing what it means. I think that [Jean-Charles] Valladont has the same, but at least he walked away with a medal,” he said. Valladont finished second in Rio.

“For me, it was so close I could almost touch it. Fourth place - it still sucks. People sometimes recognise me in the street in the Netherlands, so I guess I did something good for the sport: 2.5 million people watched my match.”

That translates to some 15% of the entire population of the Netherlands.

“There’s been a lot of media attention this time. Because Rick came fourth last time [in London], they figured out – a bit too late – that archery is a good sport to watch!”

Still only 21, Sjef is currently considering his future.

“I just moved in with my girlfriend. After this weekend I’m happy that I have at least a short period where I don’t have to shoot. I’m going to put the bow in it’s case and take it out when I want to - and not before then,” he said.

“I like to think of myself as a creative person. I just picked up photography recently. I’d like to do something with that, or maybe product design or something similar. People keep saying to me that I’m still young and can still study whatever I want to.”

“But for now, the next four years will be archery. I’m going to carry on being a full time archer at least until the Tokyo Olympics. After that, I will have to have another look at things. I don’t know what I will feel like then.”

The 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup Final runs 24/25 September in Odense, Denmark.