Archers donate arrows to Olympic Museum

Images courtesy Denis Doyle/IOC.

A ceremony to celebrate donations by Olympic archers to the Olympic Museum was held on Saturday 13 August at the Athletes Village in Rio.

One day after the Olympic archery competition ended, and just before athletes travelled back home from Rio, the IOC Culture and Heritage department invited some of the archers who competed in Brazil to offer a piece of equipment they used during the Games.

Yasmin Meichtry, Head of the Heritage Management Unit, received donations from four archers.

Marcus D’Almeida

Marcus became the youngest athlete in history to qualify for the Archery World Cup Final in 2014, at the age of 16. Not only did he qualify, he walked away with silver, to pair with the second place he took at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing that same year.

D'Almeida is also the reigning World Archery Champion in the cadet category, a title he won in 2015 in Yankton, USA.

At just 18, the Carioca made his Olympic debut at the Rio Games, losing to team silver medallist Jake Kaminski in the first round.

He donated an arrow to the Olympic Museum.

Rick van der Ven

Rick made his first Games appearance in London in 2012, where he finished fourth, losing to eventual silver medallist Takaharu Furukawa in the semis, then to China's Dai Xiaoxiang in the bronze medal match.

After winning the silver medal at the World Championships last year in Copenhagen, the 25-year old Dutchman was considered one of the contenders for an Olympic medal at Rio 2016, but his event was cut short when he lost to Patrick Huston in the first round.

Rick donated a shirt worn during the competition.

Takaharu Furukawa

A four-time Olympian who has not missed a Games since Athens 2004, Furukawa had his best result at London 2012, where he only lost in the gold medal match to Oh Jin Hyek, and took Olympic silver. The experienced Japanese archer was also bronze medallist at the Copenhagen 2015 World Championships.

Seeded seventh in Rio, the 32-year old archer dropped just a single set point through his first two matches. He then beat Juan Rodriguez, 7-3, but lost 6-2 in the quarterfinals to second seed Brady Ellison, who would later claim the bronze medal.

Takaharu donated an arrow.

Evangelia Psarra

Heading to Brazil, Greek archer Psarra was the most capped on the field at Rio 2016, shooting at her fifth Olympics. She first made the Games in Sydney in 2000, where she finished 40th.

Her best Games result came four years later in 2004 when, on home soil in Athens, she ranked eighth in qualification and finished seventh overall, only losing to the eventual Olympic Champion, Park Sung-Hyun, in the quarterfinals.

In Rio, the 42-year old came 55th in the ranking round and lost 7-3 in the first round against 10th seed Kaori Kawanaka.

Evangelia donated an arrow and a competition shirt.

Further archery donations from the Rio 2016 will be received in the coming months.

As the world’s largest Olympic Museum, the Lausanne-based institution boasts more than 10,000 exhibits, including valuable cultural relics dating back to the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The facility welcomes nearly 300,000 visitors each year.