Read the rest of our regional roster previews:
Continent: #2 Americas
Number of athletes: 25
Number of nations: 9
Number of first-time nations: 1
The One-to-beat
Aida Roman won silver at London 2012. She also took gold at the Archery World Cup Final in 2014 – and won an indoor world title that same year. She’s not taken an individual podium in 2016, but she has the finest Olympic results, alone, of them all in this article.
(Although, three-time Hyundai Archery World Cup Champion Brady Ellison could easily fill this space.)
The story
Brazil. The host nation has been party to a number of years of enthusiastic appreciation for archery, the team’s improvement and growth – and their nation’s hopes for Rio 2016. If Brazil climbs the podium, archery will take centre stage at this Olympic Games.
the nations
A nation-by-nation run-down of the continent’s athletes, history and a target, which – if achieved – would mean a really successful archery competition in Rio. Medal count is taken from the modern era, post-1972
Brazil
Athletes: Sarah Nikitin, Ane Marcelle Dos Santos, Marina Canetta (women); Marcus D’Almeida, Bernardo Oliveira, Daniel Rezende (men)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: The host nation of the Olympics. Probably under more pressure than any other team – but also with the largest cohort of support. Rezende’s the only athlete on the six-archer squad with previous Olympic experience, from London, but Oliveira also attended those Games as an observer.
While D’Almeida’s borne the brunt of expectations, thanks to being the silver medallist at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014, it’s in the team events that Brazil probably has its best shot of climbing the podium. The Brazilian men came fourth at the third stage of the 2016 Hyundai Archery World Cup – and the entire team has come on leaps and bounds ahead of the Games.
Brazil has never won an Olympic medal.
Target: One medal – men or women
Canada
Athletes: Georcy Thiffeault Picard (woman), Crispin Duenas (man)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: The 16th-seed in Beijing and ranked eight in London, Duenas has not made it past the first round at an Olympics. He said he’s more prepared for Rio than the previous two outings and he should go further. Picard’s a Games debutant, at 25, though she’s been shooting internationally since 2008.
Despite being a staple attendee at the Games, Canada has never won a medal in the archery competition.
Target: Top eight – men, second round – women
Chile
Athletes: Ricardo Soto (man)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: The only Chilean archer to previously compete at the Games was Denise van Lamoen, a former World Archery Champion, in 2000 and 2012. Soto is the second competitor from Chile - and the youngest archer on the Sambodromo field come 5 August, at 16 years of age. He’s a Pan Am youth champ – and has scored 663 on the ranking round in 2016.
Target: Second round – men
Colombia
Athletes: Ana Maria Rendon, Natalia Sanchez, Carolina Aguirre (women); Andres Pila (man)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: Colombia last had a women‘s team appear at the Olympics in 2008. That squad included two of the athletes returning in 2016: Rendon and Sanchez. Rendon also made it to the last 16 of those Games, before falling to the USA’s Khatuna Lorig. She returned in Beijing, but lost in the first round. Rio will be her third appearance.
Twenty-five year-old Andres Pila is attending his first Olympics. He’ll look to do better than Daniel Pineda, who shot in London and lost in the first round.
Target: Top eight – women, second round – men
Cuba
Athletes: Adrian Puentes (man)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: Taking the mantle from Cuban international Juan Carlos Stevens, who competed in 2012 and 2008, Puentes has reasonably large shoes to fill. Stevens made the quarterfinals in Beijing, losing only to Park Kyung-Mo, the individual silver medallist at that event. Puentes, 28, won gold at the Pan Am Games in Rio in 2007!
Target: Third round – men
Dominican Republic
Athletes: Yessica Camilo (woman)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: The first archer from the Dominican Republic to qualify and attend the Olympic Games, Camilo has already taken a large step for the sport in her nation. She was one of a number of women on the island nation training for qualification – and finished fourth in the America’s continental qualifying tournament.
Target: 630+ on ranking round
Mexico
Athletes: Aida Roman, Alejandra Valencia, Gabriela Bayardo (women); Ernesto Boardman (man)
Olympic record: 2 medals – 1 silver, 1 bronze
Intel: At London 2012, Mexico picked up its first Olympic medals. Aida Roman won silver, Mariana Avitia took bronze. Roman is back for Rio. (Avitia is commentating for Latin American television.)
Boardman beat out Beijing fourth-place-finisher JR Serrano for the Rio spot. Boardman’s shot 677 in qualifying in 2016 – and won the Americas continental qualifier for Rio (ahead of his two Mexican compatriots).
Target: One medal – women, top eight – men
USA
Athletes: Mackenzie Brown (woman); Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski, Zach Garrett (men)
Olympic record: 8 medals – 8 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze
Intel: The States men are reigning silver medallists in the team competition. And two of that London 2012 podium-climbing team return in Ellison and Kaminski. Garrett’s the newby to the USA squad – but was threatening Ellison’s top spot on the team in scores, until the latter posted the third-highest qualifying score (697) in world-level history in Shanghai, early in 2016.
The pedigree is there.
Target: One medal – men, top eight – women
Venezuela
Athletes: Leidys Brito (woman), Elias Malave (man)
Olympic record: 0 medals
Intel: Both Malave and Brito competed at London 2012 – neither won a match – and Brito was in Beijing, too. She upset her first-round opponent but lost to Khatuna Narimanidze, the fourth seed, in the second phase. Both will want to do better.
(Malave has more than enough potential, and experience. He finished fourth at the World Archery Championships in 2015.
Target: Second round – men, third round – women
The archery competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games starts on the 5 August in the Sambodromo.
