Ticas looking to carry on the Merlos brothers’ legacy in Paris

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

El Salvador may not have the pedigree of Olympic archery other countries have, but for Oscar Ticas it does not matter.

The 37-year-old became the third archer in history representing El Salvador in an Olympic Games today as he finished as the 53rd seed in the men’s individual ranking round in Paris 2024.

He follows the path of the Merlos brothers, Cristobal and Ricardo, who were the first Olympic archers from the nation. Cristobal competed in Sydney 2000 and younger brother Ricardo then followed in Athens 2004.

Despite neither managing to get past the first round, they still created a positive impact for the sport in El Salvador that encouraged a 14-year-old Oscar to pick up a bow.

“We are true ambassadors of our country,” said Ticas on his and the Merlos’ careers. “Since I met the brothers, it has been on my mind to be able to get to the Olympics.”

“We are representing such a small country, and it is good that we can reach the highest level of international competition.”

“To be here is something I dreamt of doing as a child and I made it.”

Not only is the 2006 Pan American Champion hoping to create his own sporting legacy but is also seeking to further develop the archery scene in his home country.

Ticas is currently the national youth team coach for El Salvador, aiming to inspire the next generation in the Central American nation just how the Merlos brothers did for him.

Now that he has qualified for an Olympic Games as one of four universality invitations, he believes this feat will only help his students.

“I want those archers growing up to be able to demonstrate that a country as small as El Salvador can do great things like my case in managing to qualify for the Olympic Games.”

“As well as teaching what I learnt in getting to the Olympic Games, I think growing as an athlete myself gives me a different kind of image to kids in El Salvador,” added the 37-year-old who has been trying to qualify for the Games since the Beijing 2008 cycle.

“That is what coaching is, to try to transmit what qualities we learn from each other so we can grow together.”

One thing Ticas will be sure to teach his youth team is not to give up.

After failing to qualify for Beijing and London 2012, the latter by one spot, this year’s South American Championship bronze medallist did in fact book himself for Rio 2016.

Ticas was then denied however for testing positive in a drug test which enforced a 12-month ban on the Salvadorian.

It was a difficult period for him to say the least.

“By the time I made it to Rio I’d been trying to qualify for almost five or six years, so it affected me so much because there was so much time and effort invested for them to tell me that I was not going to attend.”

Those frustrations from 2016 will forever be rooted in Ticas’ mind but temporarily they will be in the back of his thoughts, as he is now finally in Paris, competing as an Olympic athlete.

Having participated in other major international tournaments, from the few days he has been at Les Invalides, he can already feel the intensity an Olympic Games brings.

“The first thing you experience is realising that at this level, this is very different kind of competition,” he said. “There’s a lot more pressure obviously because it’s an Olympic Games, but I’m hoping more than anything to have a little more experience in matches.”

Ticas admits that coming from a smaller nation like El Salvador brings lesser pressure and expectations, but it doesn’t diminish the shine of his achievement.

It has been an arduous road for Oscar, but now he can proudly fly the flag for El Salvador and build on the foundations the Merlos brothers brought for the country.

Should he surpass the first elimination round on 30 July, he can go one further than his predecessors and have a claim to be the greatest Salvadorian archer of all time.