The press zone of the archery field hears a lot of tales of woe; what could have been, what they should have done, and what a struggle they have gone through just to get here.
It was a genuine joy to come across Great Britain’s Megan Havers, aged just 16, and the youngest archer on the field, who made the last 16 in her first Olympics and in her first year of international competition, where she had finished 6th at the 2024 European Archery Championships in only her second ever international tournament.
None of the British team had impressed in qualification, and both men’s and women’s teams had gone out in the first round on Sunday and Monday. It’s probably fair to say expectations weren’t high.
Seeded 49th of 64, Havers went past Elia Canales and the host nation’s Amélie Cordeau – the latter in what was widely acknowledged as the best shoot-off arrow of the Games. In an arena packed with French fans, she drilled an almost perfect 10. Conor Hall and Alex Wise of GBR also won a match and Tom Hall won two, saving a good deal of British face.
“I have so many emotions through me right now,” ‘Megs’ Havers said afterwards. “I want to cry. I want to yell, I want to hug people.” It was a bubble of enthusiasm that carried her into a last-16 meeting with Lim Sihyeon – where she managed to grab a point off the number one seed and eventual champion.
Havers was also an embodiment of something notable; the increasing youthfulness of the field. 72 of the 128 athletes in Paris were under 25 and over half were born in the 2000s.
