Don’t Trust Your Early Instincts…From Thinking It Was ‘Weird’, Meet One Of Team GB’s Leading Archers!

Name: Naomi Folkard

Age: 28

From: Leamington Spa

Event: Archery

History: Naomi took part in Athens in 2004, where she was the youngest member of the GB archery team. The archer got through to the last 16 before losing to eventual gold medalist, Park Sung Hyun, finishing 11th overall. She was also a part of the archery team that finished 12th. The Archer also travelled to Beijing in 2008, where she progressed to the third round, but was eliminated by Japenese Archer, Nami Hayakawa. Along with Alison Williamson and Charlotte Burgess, Naomi made it through to the semi finals against China but were unfortunately defeated and they then couldn’t beat the French so finished fourth and just missed out on the medals.

Qualification for 2012: Has qualified and will be a part of Team GB.

Copyright Getty Images

After a bit of a quiet period in regards to Athletes, the blog is active once more and this time with Great Britain’s leading female archer.

Naomi Folkard is preparing for her third appearance at the Olympic Games and is aiming to for it to be third-time lucky in her pursuit of a medal after just falling short in 2004 and 2008.

Amazingly, Naomi wasn’t so keen on the first time she played archery. Thankfully, her dad loved the sport and enrolled at the local club in Leamington Spa. She went along simply to spend time with him, but soon discovered her ability and by the age of 12, Naomi found herself in the British Junior Archery team.

The sport runs in the family as Folkard’s brother is an archer in the British Junior team while both mum and dad have competed at county level in the sport.

Clearly not one to shy away from hard work, Naomi is a music graduate from Birmingham University and is an accomplished violin and piano player and she’s also chasing another degree, this time in mathematics, at the Open University.

A strong contender in the team event in London but watch out for Naomi in the individual event, a definite dark horse.

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images AsiaPac

The Full Interview

1) How did you first get into Archery?

I tried it when I was at a family scout camp when I was 5 years old. I can’t remember it well, but I do believe that I thought it was weird and wasn’t particularly keen to do it again. However my dad loved it and soon after we got back home he investigated and joined our local club in Leamington Spa. Dad spent so much time down the field shooting that my mum, brother and myself started archery a year or so later.

2) After competing in Athens and Beijing, this will be your third Olympics, does the fact that it’s in London have any effect on your ambitions? Or is it simply another competition that you train for in the same manner as the previous competitions?

I always shoot as best I can whatever the competition. Obviously the London Olympics is a special event, but it’s pointless to me to pile extra pressure on myself, so all I can do is prepare as best I can for it and then when the time comes to compete there, I will just enjoy shooting great arrows. 

3) Do you feel that because it’s in London, there may be a level of complacency or is it completely the opposite and you want to impress because it’s on your home  turf? 

Neither situation would lead to good shooting from me, so I will behave the same as I would at any other event.

4) When did you believe that you wanted to pursue this as a career as oppose to a hobby?

I became a full time archer after I graduated in 2005. However I would not call archery a career – one day I will grow up and do something a little more sensible with better long term! After London I will train part time and set myself up as a private violin and piano teacher. I have also  started studying mathematics with Open University and I would like to continue with this through to getting a degree.

5) You graduated from Birmingham University, was it hard to balance both your education and the sport? Was there ever a time in which one took priority?

I spent a lot of time practicing my instruments and archery, which didn’t really leave enough time for the rest of my studies. A lot of time was expected to be spent self studying in the library which wasn’t my thing. My tutors were supportive enough and the  Munroe sport centre allowed me to use the gym for free which was great.

6) The archery will be taking place at Lords Cricket Ground which has come in for a fair amount of criticism, what are your thoughts on the chosen location?

I don’t recall much criticism.

The best venue I will  ever shoot at was in Panatheniko Stadium in Athens. I felt like a gladiator. This could never be created in London. However Lord’s as a venue is much better than the venue in Beijing, which was a specially built construction and was demolished immediately after the competition had finished. There the seating started well above eye level so it had no atmosphere from the crowd and it just felt cold and thankless.

Lords is not ideal as the nursery isn’t big enough to hold the number of practice bosses which will be required. However the important thing is the competition. Lords is a world renown venue and has a great prestige. I know the Indian team are excited to compete there. Temporary seating will be built over the grass at Lords,  which will not detract from the venue as the seating will be low lying and you will still be able to see the media centre and the special architecture on the outside of the Long Room and changing rooms.

I know that the crowd will be excited to watch sport whatever the sport and in the case of archery it will be just the same. In the end it is the crowd, the volunteers and the archers that make the competition a success, not a venue.

7) How do you rate your chances of going to London and achieving a top three finish?

In Beijing we were so close to a bronze medal. We have improved a lot since then, however so has everybody else, of course. We  will do everything we can to prepare and in the end, all we can do is do our best.

8) Away from Archery, how much free time do you get and what do you like to do in those free hours?

Not a lot of free time. I have one day off a  week. I like to spend time with my family, my parents have a dog (we never had a pet any better than a hamster when I was young) so I love to fuss Bessie and take her out walking. I also spend time reading, painting, practicing my music and gardening. During the spring and summer I spend about an hour in the garden every day that I’m at home, I find it so diverting and relaxing, even if it’s  just a bit of weeding.

9) If you had to choose another career path, what would it  be?

As I previously said violin and piano teacher, perhaps a mathematics teacher.

One Word Answers

Favourite  Colour: Purple

Favourite  Food: Anything with pasta, especially lasagne

Favourite  Type of Music: Debussy

Favourite  TV Program: Big Bang Theory

Biggest  Inspiration: Miss Park

Best  Memory in Archery: Walking down the tunnel and out into  the Panatheniko Stadium

I’d like to wish Naomi all the best for the future and thank her and her team for their recent cooperation.

Watch Naomi in action against Charlotte Burgess!

First time At The Olympics?! Pfft, Try Six Olympic Games In A Row!

Name: Alison Williamson

Age: 40

From: Originally from Melton Mowbray but trains with Long Mynd Archers, based in Church Stretton, West Midlands

Event: Archery

History: Made her Olympic debut in Barcelona in 1992 and also competed in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Her greatest achievement came in the 2004 Olympics Games where she won bronze before finishing 4th in the team event in Beijing four years ago. She was also part of the GB team that won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games while also winning silver in the individual event in Delhi.

Qualification for 2012: Has qualified and will be a part of Team GB 2012.

(July 15, 2008 – Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images Sport)

I was over the moon to discover Alison had West Midland connections. As she aims to become only the 3rd athlete to compete in six successive Olympic Games, (the other athletes are Bill Hoskyns and Tessa Sanderson) I knew she would have a fair amount of media attention surrounding her so to find out her regional connections was great news and then to secure an interview with the Archer meant the good news kept on coming!

Williamson was brought up with archery firmly in her blood as both her parents were archers. At the age of 10, she began to show signs of the talent she had by winning gold at the Wenlock Olympian Games. It was clearly a sign of things to come.

At the age of 14, Alison was selected for her first international competition and it was this moment that made the archer realise how far she could go in the sport. Just seven years later, she was competing at her first Olympic Games and doesn’t appeared to have looked back since.

20 years later and Williamson is striving to be a part of Team GB for one final time. Many expect her to cruise into the team as long as nothing drastic happens. A fantastic archer, with talent in abundance and experience of the Olympic Games; she definitely ticks all the boxes!

(October 9, 2010 – Photo by Graham Crouch/Getty Images AsiaPac)

The Full Interview

Firstly, how did you get into Archery?

Both my parents are archers but I started when I was about 6 or 7 and I started doing Junior Competitions which led to the silver medal at the age of 10. It was never a career aim when I began. It was a family hobby, a family sport.

As we approach London 2012, there’s an obvious buzz but for yourself this will be a sixth Olympic Games. Does London have a special buzz or is it just another competition and you prepare the same way?

In terms of preparation, I don’t change anything just because of where it’s being hosted. But obviously with London, there is that buzz. Bascially in Beijing, we came 4th in the team and I think if we’d won a medal, I probably would have retired then but we didn’t win a medal so that was more the motivation for me to keep going. But I’d like to be on a team and win a medal and it just adds to it that it’s in London.

The archery will be taking place at Lords Cricket Ground which has come in for a fair amount of criticism, what are your thoughts on the chosen location?

I think it’s great for the sport. I think we’ll get a lot more spectators who probably wouldn’t have been interested in going to archery, maybe a few cricket fans who’ll think ‘Oh, I’d like to go and see something different at Lords rather than just cricket all the time’ so I think it’ll be interesting. It’s a good location for the sport, definitely.

When, rather than if, Olympic qualification is secured, how do you rate your chances of going as far as you did in 2004 and maybe even going a bit further?

That would just be the icing on the cake. It’s always a possibility, most people who go to games, you’re talking about the top elite level in the sport and on the day, that medal could be anyone’s. It’s just about doing your best on that day and hoping your best is enough.

You compete both as an individual and in a team, is there a preference between the two?

I think with the team, it requires more effort and energy and its more challenging but it’s more rewarding that you’ve done something as a team. We work really hard and since Beijing, we train every week and there’s got to be a high level of trust with your team mates, they want to win and do their best for the team but we’re all working together towards that goal.

It’s not a pressure but you don’t want to let anyone down, but obviously you know that everyone is doing their best as well.

Away from archery, how much free time do you get and what do you like to do in those free hours?

Not a lot! I’ve started learning the cello last year so I have lessons now and again and it’s completely different from archery and it just completely switches my brain off. I enjoy it, I like learning new things and new skills.

Over the winter, I got a new shed, a big shed which I’ve converted into a mini home gym because my lounge just ended up being full of fitness equipment, mats, medicine balls, dumbbells and exercise bikes so I didn’t really have a lounge! So that’s all in my shed now and in the winter, its perfect when its too icy to run.

Aside from the obvious bow and arrow training, how important is the healthy and mentality side of things in the sport?

You obviously have to keep in shape, in good condition and do fitness training sessions twice a week. We get a lot of support from the EIS (English Institute of Sport) so we have a self conditioning coach, we have a physio, we have a biomechanist and we do a lot of work looking at high speed cameras and use that for feedback, so there’s a lot of stuff that goes on.

There is a lot of arrow shot as well, but there’s other stuff and we have a big team of other people behind us and helping us which I really appreciate.

If you had to choose another career path, what would you have chosen?

Well I’m a qualified primary school teacher. I’d like to have been a screenwriter for a blockbuster movie or a producer or something like that!

One Word Answers

Favourite Colour: Gold

Favourite Food: Oranges

Favourite Type of Music: Anything. There’s nothing really that I don’t like to listen to.

Favourite TV Program: I don’t watch TV but my favourite radio program is ‘Front Row’.

Biggest Inspiration: My Niece

Best Memory in Archery: Athens

Alison also wishes to show her appreciation to the lottery funding she receives and thanks everyone who does the lottery because without that she couldn’t train and also would like to thank Team Stafford for all the help they have given.

I would like to thank Alison and her team for all her cooperation and wish her all the best for the future.

If you want to see Alison in action, watch this short BBC interview where the archer shows off her brilliant ability.