Hi Speed Video

Here are a couple of high-speed videos of me shooting taken in China. The best way to view them is to download them and play them on Quicktime player. This way you can watch them frame by frame using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Consolation.

The elimination matches are over and the guy I lost to went on to win the Gold medal, so now i don't feel quite so bad as a lot of good archers lost to him also.

Today is my last shoot here, It's the team rounds and we face Thailand in our first match, I know we have it in us to win a medal if the 3 of us shoot as well as we can.

A huge thank you for all the comments left after my last post, I did feel really low but they gave me a tremendous lift...Thank you

I'm so sorry!

I did not shoot to my ability, no excuses. I did try my hardest but it just didn't happen for me. All credit to my opponent, he was methodical whereas my first arrow was a 3 and i was constantly playing catch-up, at this level you cannot get away with arrows like that.

I apologise for letting everyone down, i've had fantastic support throughout this whole event and i only wish i could have progressed further and made you proud...i'm so sorry!!

Pinch me!!

I got called off the line ready for my match and i was feeling ok, a bit jittery as to be expected but nothing worse than i am normally in Head to head matches. 5 minutes to go and i was inside the stadium, weird still no nerves, if anything i was quite excited to get out there and shoot.

The time came to go in, wow the stands were nearly full and a nice cheer went up when they announced my name..this is great i thought. I was up for it!!

Being the higher ranked archer I elected to shoot first, the hooter went, i shot.. a 7 to the left, hmm not too bad considering. next arrow, a 7 to the right, ok i can live with that. Third arrow, in the 9, that's more like it. I relaxed back off the line and saw my opponent had shot 9, 9 and 7, hmm not good. That's when i all went belly-up. He shot another arrow!! i'm thinking "noooo.. do we shoot 6 arrows in an end?" A quick look at my coach reassured me that it was only 3 arrows and that my opponent had shot too many arrows???

The problem was that his scored stayed up on the scoreboard. The next 3 arrows were not too great from me, and i was falling further behind. On the 3rd end i was still distracted from the events of the first end, I came up to aim and my fingers just relaxed, the arrow went sailing down the range and landed in the grass below the target. OMG I MISSED THE TARGET!! in front of 2000 people. All that was going through my head was "I'm a better archer than this, I'm not THAT bad". My second arrow went straight in the 10, and so did my third, there see i told you!

By the fourth and final end i had resigned myself to defeat but wanted to do my best still, i put in a beautiful group of three arrows all touching each other but sadly low in the 8. I congratulated my opponent and left the arena.

Once outside, i was ushered towards the media where i did one "what went wrong" interview. I was halfway through my 2nd TV interview (with the BBC) when my team manager came running up to my screaming "You've won, You've done it" His score had been adjusted due to the fact he shot too many arrows in the first end and i took the match by 1 point! The cameras were still rolling, wow what a scoop, so from being asked how i felt to go out so early, i was being asked how i felt now i've heard i've won..it was surreal in the extreme. Lou was up on the walkway so i yelled up to tell her i had won and the tv crew asked who she was, when i told her they went legging it up there to get her views. They were buzzing as much as us about it, look out for it on telly as it's unbelievable.

So the net result is that i'm through to the last 16 and shooting again tomorrow, please let it be uneventful, i don't think my nerves could take another day like today.


BBC Article HERE, see what i mean...bizarre!!!

Don't worry

I shot well in the first half and was in 5th place but in the 2nd half I had one terrible end which totally hosed any chance i had of getting a top 8 ranking. I ended up in 11th place which on reflection is actually a VERY good thing. What it means is that i am shooting against the no. 22 ranked archer tomorrow in Court A,

If i win that match, on Thursday i will be shooting against an Archer that has had over a day to dwell on his upcoming match and will be shooting for the first time in an eliminator here. Whereas I (if succesful) will have already won a match in there and should therefore be more relaxed and confident...see? don't worry, it's all good :)

What a night.

Sorry for not posting yesterday but I was not sure what to write. I'm still not sure so i'll just ramble and see how it turns out (hmmmm... no change there then :)

I've heard quite a few comments about the opening ceremony, all of them good thankfully. To me it was yet another mind-blowing experience, this thing just gets better and better. Saturday night surpassed my expectations by miles, the noise was deafening as we were all waiting outside and there were fireworks lighting up the sky, helecopters circling overhead and a rather enthusiastic crowd of mainly chinese cheering at us and waving frantically as we made our way towards the stadium.

We were the 80th country in the queue to enter and the closer we got to the stadium the louder the noise got. I think one of the most exciting moments was when we were in the tunnel waiting to be led in, we could see and hear the crowd and the noise and atmosphere was just unbelievable.

Walking into the stadium was a moment i will never forget, it seemed as though the crowd just errupted, I tried to wave, walk and look around at the same time but i think i was in a mild state of shock. I still can't believe that just four years ago i was watching the Athens opening ceremony on television and never in my wildest dreams could i have imagined that i would be a part of something this momentous.The roar that went up around the stadium when the Chinese team entered made me realise just how good it's going to be parading out in front of a home crowd when the Paralympics come to London in 2012.

The Ceremony itself was very well done i think. It was in no way patronising like i had initially feared and i honestly believe that it was 10 times better than the Olympic ceremony just a few weeks earlier. The displays of mass synchronised dancing, the lighting, the music....well everything was just so classy, and all of the main artists that performed were disabled..incredible.

I took so many photos that my camera bettery was totally flat by the end of the ceremony, so i didn't get to take many of the chinese athlete hoisting himself up to light the Paralympic flame. I'm sure there are plenty of photos of it about so i will try and grab some just in case you missed it. Oh and the part that will stick in my mind the most was the little children dancing, they were simply amazing and how they got that many kids to dance like that and all together is staggering.

Well the ceremony finished at around 11pm and we were efficiently ushered out to the hundreds of waiting buses to bring us back to the village. Everything ran like clockwork and me and one of my team mates stopped at the food hall for a drink and to try and get ourselves back down to earth as my mind was still racing. It really was one of the most memorable nights of my life.

I'll of course post some pictures as soon as i have had time to sift through the hundreds i took, hopefully one or two of them should be worth seeing :)

Now it's down to business and the real reason we are here. We have one more practice session before the ranking round on Tuesday (2:00pm), and that's when it really gets serious. Yesterday (Sunday) we had a 30 minute familiarisation session in each of the Archery courts, it was very exciting. I am not looking further forward than the ranking round, my plan was to take one step at time, lots of "mini" goals if you like that when all succesfully achieved will lead me to Archery court A on the 15th of September. My only goal right now is to finish in the top 8 in the ranking round, this will not only give me a bye in the first round and get me straight into the 1/16ths but it will also mean a day off on Wednesday so i can meet up with Lou and get some last minute words of encouragement. So thats it, if i succeed in that then i will start thinking about my next goal.

Here's a link to an Interview I did for BBC's Spotlight tv programme before I came out here,

Pain is only temporary, Pride is for Life.

What an awesome slogan, I saw this on the t-shirt of one of the athletes here today and it just put everything in to perspective for me.

So here we are on the eve of the Opening Ceremony, one of the biggest events of my life. I don't know how i feel really and it's hard to put into words. There are so many emotions i'm feeling right now, Pride.. at actually being a part of this whole experience, Nervous... as i've obviously never strolled around a stadium filled with 91.000 people all cheering at us before. It's going to be one heck of an evening.

The great news is that unlike the Olympics the athletes will parade in before the ceremony starts so we will actually get to see the entertainment. We have no idea what it's going to involve but we do know it's not the same as the amazing show they put on for the able-bodied archers. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and if you are watching it live on TV just look for the guy in the white jacket looking like a startled rabbit and that'll be me :)

As for today, not a lot to report really, i shot a while this morning, it went well. I actually shot alongside my mate from the US Paralympic archery team , Kevin Stone (See piccies below) Thats what i love most about this sport at this level, you get to meet good people from all over the world and some of them you get to be good friends with, Kevin is just such a person. A big "thank you" hug to Lindsey Carmichael for taking the photos for us, and giving up her space on the shooting line so Kevin and I could shoot a few arrows together.

Anyhoo i really ought to get some rest, big day tomorrow and all that :)

It just gets cooler

There were 2 landmarks reached today, the first one was Shooting at the Practice/Ranking field for the first time, its a very nice field with plenty of shade and it even has an Archers lounge. The archers lounge is a rather large air conditioned room where you can go to have a rest, cool down, get yourself a drink and a snack and basically just chill for a while.

The second landmark was actually stepping into the main Archery Stadium for the first time (known as "Court A"). I swear the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. It was just such a fantastic feeling walking out into the middle of that stadium, seeing the HUGE tv screen and just trying to imagine what its going to be like when it's filled with spectators. I also took walk inside Court B also, Not quite as impressive but nonetheless shiver inducing.

After taking a few photos of both Courts (see below) I went back to the practice field and carried on practicing. The rest of the gang left at 3 pm so it was just me shooting, Things weren't feeling as smooth as usual and i wanted to get it sorted out. Peter (Suk) also stayed behind to collect my arrows and figured out what i was doing wrong almost imediately. The result was a 58 end so not only was i back on track but actually shooting better. We spent about another 3/4 hour practicing head to head and pressure shooting so i left the field buzzing and full of confidence.

Anyhoo tomorrow is an early start as we start shooting at 8am so i'm going to try and hit the hay early, here's a few of the photos I took today,

Todays piccies

Not a lot to report today, most of the gang went to the field to shoot a few arrows but i am sticking to my plan and not shooting the day after i travel, it's worked fantastically up till now so i'm not going to risk deviating from it.

Instead i just had a relaxing stroll around the village exploring and just generally taking it easy.

I'll be heading off to the shooting field tomorrow afternoon to fling a few arrows and get a feel for place...I can't wait.

Here is a small selection of the photos i took today, enjoy :)

Oh, one last thing, McDonalds was open today, big mac and fries, I didn't want it really but i felt i had to at least try them to see how they compare to the ones back home.. call it research if you like...ahem!! :D

UPDATE: Woah!! just been told of THIS which apparently appeared in yesterdays Daily mirror, Thats nice to know. (scroll down to the Archery section)

Finally arrived

There was absolutely no mistaking where we were and why we were here from the moment we got off the plane in Beijing. We were mobbed by Chinese helpers showing us where to go, Mel and I were whisked off through customs etc by our very own personal helpers..absolutely incredible. Everywhere you looked there were paralympic posters, banners, officials...you name it.
The transfer to the athletes village was swift, efficient and trouble free which is pretty much what we have come to expect by now, the Chinese are just so well organised.

To sum up the athletes village in one word is really quite simple...AWESOME!!! It is beautiful, from the manicured lawns to the ornamental ponds, I'm sure i have been wheeling around here for the last few hours with my jaw around my knees :)

The first place we visited was the food hall, or should that be the food "stadium" I really have never seen something so immense, there is every conceivable type of food on offer. Of course being the ultimate proffessional you have all come to know I opted for a balanced meal of Pizza followed by a Magnum Ice-cream.Yum!! :)

Really, this is an experience that will stay etched in my brain for the rest of my life, seeing so many people all milling around with smiles and looks of shear happiness on their faces is not just refreshing but it certainly makes all those hours shooting in wet, cold fields in order to get here worth every nano-second

The ONLY downside is the internet connection isn't quite so convenient as before so todays pictures will follow as soon as i am able to upload them at a reasonable speed.

It's Started

The media turned up at the field today, there were crews from both BBC and ITV. I got nabbed by both but despite everything it was quite enjoyable. Anyone who knows me will know i hate this sort of thing but we were warned to expect it and just deal with it.
Apparently they will be aired sometime this week on ITV West Country and the BBC in the South West, worth watching for a laugh if nothing else.


Todays shooting went well, i am averaging around 109-110 per dozen which is exactly where i want to be at this point in time. It was the last session in Macau as tomorrow morning we fly up to Beijing. That is where i get the feeling it's all going to become very real, i'm really excited and can't wait to get there now.