Archergate
Lets be honest, when you think of scandals in sport, you don't think of archery. Endless drug suspensions in athletics and cycling. Bribes and backhanders in football. Hurtful language in cricket (although thats really just the Aussies). Tonya Harding having her opponent, Nancy Kerrigan, kneecapped. Archery never really pops up on the radar does it? Well perhaps we should cause there's a reason black bows are the most common because .. we're badboys badboys whatya gonna do. whatya gonna do when we come for you!
Indeed there's been a few eye opening scandals in the archery world. We're not proud of them .. (well, mibi a little bit - Ed ;o) .. but lets take a look at some of the most recent.
That's not what we meant by eating for performance!
Doping Scandal (2016): So what happened here? Silver medallist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Jay Lyon received a two-year ban from World Archery in 2016 for testing positive for the stimulant oxilofrine. This breached Article 6.2.1 of the Anti-Doping Rules of World Archery and prevented Lyon from competing in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Lyon, said in his defence that he "never intentionally took anything" ... we feel there should be an "Honest mister" in there somewhere! Oxilofrine is not a controlled substance in North America, but it is a prohibited substance in sport. Unfortunately, it is present in a number of products (sports supplements) which has subsequently resulted in athletes being caught out. The biggest problem is WADA (World Anti Doping Agency) tests at a level hundreds of times more sensitive than the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This can lead to foods and drugs being declared safe by the FDA but being contaminated with dodgy trace elements at the levels WADA test at. Paige Pearce, US international archer, has waxed lyrical at serious length about this real problem for international athletes which we may cover at some point. The hoops international archers have to jump through is insane! If you want a little more on WADA, we've written about WADA before.
dodgy font but sincere admiration
Racist Font Controversy (2021): This one is close to our editors heart given its Korea and involves fonts. Korea because he's a fanboi for the Korean ladies team and fonts because as a print analyst for 15 years, he's got a thing for fonts. So, any guesses what happened? Well, World Archery used a font, sometimes associated with racist stereotypes of Asians, on posts celebrating South Korean Olympic archers successes. .. Yeah! This is a good one .. The font, shown in the image to the left, is sometimes called "wonton" or "chop suey". The font was intended to replicate the brush and ink style of Asian calligraphy .. called Seoye (서예) in Korean. Unfortunately it has gained a dubious reputation by being used in anti-Asian materials. Conversely, its used on menus in many Asian owned and operated restaurants! So little bit of mixed messaging going on there. The big question here, was WA being dodgy? We doubt it. Its more likely a WA publicity wonk was just trying to be cute and funny. This did, however, garner quite a bit of backlash at the time and probably cost that wonk their job even though you know their boss would have signed off on it. On the plus side, our editor has a new font.
Derecognition of Mexican Federation (2022): For a whole federation to be kicked out of World Archery .. well, you know that this is going to be a cracker. WA removed its recognition of the Mexican Archery Federation in December 2022 after its former president, Professor Efi Sanchez, was convicted of misusing public funds. The exclusionary action by WA meant the federation could no longer receive funding. Worse still, WA required the establishment of a new organization compliant with good governance principles to manage archery in Mexico. This results in the confusing entry for World Archery Mexico on WA's webpage saying "The organisation was founded in 2024 and affiliated to World Archery in 1985." What makes this even worse was Sanchez successfully appealed the conviction in the Mexican Appeals court on 5th October 2023. A huge slice of humble pie was subsequently eaten by WA on 28th February 2024 when this letter of apology was sent to Professor Sanchez.
Canadian Coaching Controversy (2023): During the finals of the 2023 World Archery Championships in Berlin, Canada's coaching staff .. well, Joe Lesner .. drew criticism for using "bold and unusual" tactics. Tbh he acted like a clown in the coaches box. Shushing the crowd with his finger to his lips on winning ends. Buffing his nails on his jacket when his archer shot a 10. Making faces at the tv camera. Dancing in the box. Perhaps archery is too quiet at times but this was seriously iffy at best. Certainly his actions wound up his opponent Mete Gazoz and his coach. Lesner's methods prompted discussion within the archery community, with quite a few archers and coaches weighing in on the "strategies". You can check out some of what happened and a few opinions in this 4 minute WA youtube video. (ps: Karma struck hard when an irritated Mete upped his game to crush the Canadians.)Gamesmanship or bad manners .. as an archer, you decide.
And finally .. as usual .. saving the best for last:
Didn't even give them 40th place!
Unsportsmanlike Behavior Investigations (2024): In June 2024, World Archery opened investigations into unsportsmanlike behavior at the Hyundai Archery World Cup and the Final Olympic Qualifier in Antalya, Türkiye. At the centre of this was Team USA. The investigation stemmed from a three-way tiebreaker where the US team allegedly deliberately shot a low score. This has been reported that the Americans intentionally manipulated the bracket to AVOID a tough matchup when the reality was the exact opposite. They legally threw the shootoff to have a crack at the strong Chinese team whom they needed to beat by as many points as possible to get their team qualification for the Olympics. This was legal and not against the rules. However, due to politics, the team and its officials received a warning and the team forfeited its world ranking points for the event EVEN THOUGH no rule violation for match-fixing was found. We exclusively scooped this story in detail at the time .. with all the behind the scenes facts .. in this article. Search this event on google and we're right up there!!! :o)
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Re "Lets be honest, when you think of scandals in sport, you don't think of archery." What ... ? I mean there is so much money at stake.