Dos Santos honoured as Brazil’s archer of the year for 2016

Brazilian recurve women Ane Marcelle Dos Santos, who was the highest domestic finisher in the archery competition at the last Olympic Games, was named athlete of the year by the Brazilian Olympic Committee for her performance at Rio 2016. The award ceremony, which took place in the City of Arts, in Rio de Janeiro, served as an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Brazil’s athletes and thank everyone involved in staging the Games.

“It’s very exciting and a huge pride to be recognised as the best Brazilian archer from 2016,” said Ane Marcelle. “I worked hard to make history in archery and in my country, and this is the reward. I’m really proud of myself.”

Dos Santos was the only Brazilian athlete to make it to individual finals day during the Games – and became the first archer from the nation in history to advance to the third round of any Olympic competition.

The 23-year-old lost to Naomi Folkard, 6-2, and finished ninth overall in the recurve women’s individual event.

Journalists, leaders, former athletes and sports personalities formed the jury that chose the best Brazilian athletes from each sport.

After winning the award, Ane Marcelle said she planned to keep training and make the team that will compete on the international archery circuit in 2017. She added that she’d already started her journey to Tokyo 2020, where she hoped to improve on her performance from Rio.