ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.
Chiara Rebagliati had her golden time back in 2022 when she collected two gold medals at the World Games in Birmingham and the World Archery Field Championships in Yankton.
The two field archery events came three months apart.
The 27-year-old Italian then admitted to having drawn motivation from her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, the Games postponed one year to 2021 due to the pandemic.
“Going to Tokyo was a big dream for me,” she said. “And after my first Olympics, I understood what it meant. I tried to work hard.”
Eager to earn a quota spot for Paris 2024, Rebagliati seized of the very first opportunity to do so, at the European Games in Krakow in June 2023.
“We prepared strong with our national team for that,” she explained. “I would really like to take part in the Olympics in Paris. Tokyo was fantastic, but probably the goal there was just to qualify.”
In Japan, she was defeated in the second round, and while the medal opportunity presented itself in the recurve women’s team event, Italy lost to eventual winner Korea in the quarterfinals.
With a feeling of unfinished business for Chiara at the Olympics.
“I came back a little bit disappointed,” she said. “I expected other results.”
“In Paris, I would like to achieve something important. I put all of myself into preparations and qualifications.”
The archery competition at the Olympic Games has its unique format.
“It’s a totally different competition. It’s long. You have a match and then another match after three days. You begin, have to keep focused, wait a few days and then repeat this routine.”
In Tokyo, Chiara’s teammates were on a roll as Mauro Nespoli took silver and Lucilla Boari won bronze.
The 27-year-old archer believes her time will come in the French capital this summer, and she will build on the experience gained at the previous Olympics.
“For Paris, I would like to change what happened in Tokyo. I improved myself. Every year, I improve a little bit in terms of my mind, my technical shooting. I’m proud of myself and the work I did.”
And it requires some mental work to switch off from reality, when the stake is high.
“Obviously, when we’re in stressful moments, I try to think only about my shooting. I want to do my best, to focus only on me, my bow and the target.”
Rebagliati is the reigning World Games Champion and World Archery Field Champion, but she now would like to get some big achievements in target competition, as well.
“I love field archery, but I also really like 70-metre shooting, and I want to achieve something important,” she concluded.
Absent from the first stage of the Hyundai Archery World Cup of the season in Shanghai last week, she will launch her international season in a few day’s time at the European Championships in Essen.
In Germany, the Italian recurve women’s squad will be vying to upgrade Rebagliati’s Olympic spot to a team quota.
