Intense, Wonderful and Cruel
China has selected the six archers to represent it at the Olympics.
Wang Dapeng, Li Jialun and Wei Shaoxuan will shoot for the Gents gold while the Ladies are Wu Jiaxin, Long Xiaoqing and Yang Xiaolei.
The selection procedure was a brutal 20 consecutive days of competition which certainly would have weeded out anyone not mentally tough let alone physically lacking. One of the chinese coaches said of the trials, “they were the most intense, wonderful and cruel selection in chinese archery team history.” …….. No sh*t sherlock!
In contrast the British selection event was described as “a marathon” and “pretty relentless” with five and a half days shot out of six.
Five and a half days shot out of six. A marathon? Pretty relentless? Verses 20 consecutive days? To quote Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride …… “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
I think this year everyone is going to have their hands full with the chinese, even the big dogs of toxophilia … the South Koreans. Should make for some edge of the couch moments of tension and that’s no bad thing. Post COVID archery could do with a wild Olympic shootout.
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[…] Pre competition we marvelled at just how much effort the Chinese were putting into selection. 20 days continuous competition to select the team! It was unprecedented. These archers must have ice in their veins and be stoic […]