Lisa Barbelin makes history with women’s individual bronze

France’s Lisa Barbelin became the first French woman to take an individual Olympic archery medal, when she won bronze in the women’s individual competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

“Now it’s real. I don’t know when I’ll realise it, but in any case, [the medal] is heavy now. I can feel it, and that’s the beauty of it,” she said. “I’m very proud to have won this medal for France. But I think I’m only the first one – there will be many others in the future.”

After losing to Nam Suhyeon in the semifinal, Barbelin prevented a Korean clean sweep by beating Jeon Hunyoung to the bronze, after capitalising on some late errors by Jeon in an adrenaline-filled third place match. Spurred on by a noisy crowd, at 4-4, Barbelin found enough in the tank to edge the last set by a single point.

“It wasn’t hard to stay focused with the crowd, it was hard to stay focused in the quarter and the semi, because I knew that the semi was going to be complicated, that everything was going to be complicated. But in the end, I managed to stay in it and I’m very proud of that.”

“In between, I did a lot of breathing exercises to calm myself down, set things right, and start again.”

It was a moment of redemption for the 24-year-old, who went out in the first rounds of both the team and mixed team competitions, and her emotional triumph contrasted with the other medallists on the podium.

“I’m a very emotional person, and I need to express my emotions. I need to make the most of every single moment,” she said.

“My emotions are not an obstacle, actually, they are a key for success for me.”

It is France’s first individual medal since Jean-Charles Valladont took silver in Rio 2016, and France’s second of these Games, after the men’s team took silver on Monday.

The competition concludes with the men’s individual competition tomorrow, with France’s Baptiste Addis and Lisa’s boyfriend Thomas Chirault both competing.

“Tomorrow’s programme is to go and support the boys, and right now all I want to do is go and see my family and jump into their arms,” Lisa said.