3 May 2011 - Athlete of the Week: Danielle BROWN (GBR)

Athlete of the Week: Danielle BROWN (GBR) Lausanne / Porec– 3 May 2011   At the Commonwealth Games in Delhi 2010, the para-archer Danielle BROWN won a gold medal—and she did it shooting with and against the able archers. This week BROWN is back again with the elite of the world at the Archery World Cup Stage 1 in Porec.   With the start of the Archery World Cup season, FITA/World Archery is introducing a new feature: the athlete of the week nomination on www.worldarchery.org. Each week we will nominate an archer for a recent special achievement.  For the first week, we wanted to have a look back at a very special accomplishment: BROWN’s gold medal in the compound women's team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Looking back at our live commentaries, Danielle BROWN, Nichola SIMPSON and Nicky HUNT, shooting for England, were triumphant in the second part of the gold medal match and reversed the scores against Canada. In the last three arrows, "BROWN touched the bull’s-eye, SIMPSON had 9 and HUNT concluded with an X10 to take gold, 232-229! Twenty eight years after Neroli FAIRHALL (NZL), another para-archer, BROWN, won gold at the Commonwealth Games!"   Indeed, at the only other appearance of archery at the Commonwealth Games, in Brisbane 1982, FAIRHALL also won gold for the recurve women's individual. The New Zealand athlete went on to be recognised as an all time great Olympian by the International Olympic Committee and New Zealand National Olympic Committee. Will the history repeat itself with BROWN?   We met with Dani at the Porec World Cup to announce her nomination. She said: "This is a very pleasant surprise. Thank you! I am delighted that I am back on the field of play of the World Cup this week and hope to participate in more World Cup events during the season. My gold medal at the Commonwealth Games drew a lot of attention back home, which was good for archery! Thanks to the medal, I was awarded a contract with UK sport and I can now train full time. My main objectives are the upcoming World Para Championships in Turin and, of course, the Paralympic Games in London."   The vibrant 23-year old British athlete is on course to write archery history in 2011. With FITA taking over the governance of Para-Archery, the World Archery Championships and the World Archery Para Championships will directly follow one another in the same city, Turin. For the first time ever BROWN could well win two or more medals in these two world championships. With her gold medals at the Paralympic Games Beijing 2008 and the Commonwealth Games, she has already shown that her career will be an exciting one to watch.   Biography Extract:   Danielle BROWN (GBR) – Born 10 April 1988   1st Team Commonwealth Games New Delhi 2010 5th Ind. Commonwealth Games New Delhi 2010 3rd Team World Cup Shanghai 2010 9th Ind. World Cup Shanghai 2010 9th Mixed Team World Cup Shanghai 2010 3rd Team Arizona Cup 2010 2nd Mixed Team Arizona Cup 2010 1st Ind. Paralympic Games Beijing 2008  Complete Biography(The gold medal at the Commonwealth Games New Delhi 2010 is on the "Notes" field)   More info on www.worldarchery.org   World Archery Communication