“There’s an expression here that says, ‘If you’ve got ginga, you can do anything’.”

– Ane Marcelle Dos Santos (BRA). Google ‘ginga’. Go on. 

“I don’t have to say anything to them, because I know just how much hard work and effort I’ve put in.”

 – Deepika Kumari (IND), on what she would say to the notoriously harsh Indian media about the team’s performance.

 

“Very proud, just to put on the green and gold every morning, remember where I come from and how lucky I am to represent the country that I love.”

 – Taylor Worth (AUS) on representing Australia

 

“I was feeling great and enjoying every arrow, so there was no reason for me to stop smiling.”

 – Alejandra Valencia (MEX) on smiling all the time while competing

 

“I have never imagined that I wouldn’t shoot an arrow everyday.”

 – Choi Misun (KOR) on whether she will continue as an archer after Rio

 

[wry smile plays across her face] “That is something I’ve never thought about.”

– Chang Hyejin on whether she is going to retire after Rio

 

“I have been shooting since I was eight and now I’m 28, so with my 20 years of doing this, I feel like I’m the king and I have the crown.”

 – Florian Floto (GER) after winning one match. One.

 

“It means everything, it’s a part of my life. How I am is because of archery.”

 – Antonio Fernandez (ESP) on his relationship with the sport

 

“New world record.”

 – what Kim Woojin said out loud, in English, half a second after putting in that final arrow to make the 700

 

“There are many athletes that dream about competing at the Olympics but only a few of them get the chance to do it at home. If there’s anything I will remember, I think it would be the match with the team where I shot a 10 and the crowd went crazy. Hearing my name and Brazil so loud, wow, that will remain with me forever.”

 – Bernado Oliveira (BRA)

“Despite the results, I feel satisfied with my performance. I think I will always remember the support of the people in the stands. That sound, if I close my eyes, I can still hear it.

“This journey has been amazing and completely different from what I thought it could be. It’s been more exciting than any other international event. There’s hope, there’s a future and there’s the capability in Brazil to make archery a great sport.”

 – Marina Canetta (BRA)

 

“My goal is to do my best to tell them: it’s not over, they can still fight with the situation and do great things. Don’t let your disability defeat you. Sport is the best means to defeat disability.”

– Zahra Nemati (IRI), on what message she would like to send other Paralympic athletes

 

“I didn’t need my glasses today, therefore everyone saw the evil eye.”

 – Sjef Van Den Berg (NED) on competing with a burst blood vessel in his eye

“I prepared a lot, and it’s all gone now.”

– Kim Woojin (KOR) on being knocked out in the 2nd round

 

“It’s the most respectful way to give thanks to the spectators who cheered for me.”

 – Ku Bonchan after him and his coach getting on their knees on the field after his individual win

 

“I’ve had it told to me before, even when I was younger. I personally don’t see a huge resemblance, maybe besides the facial hair. He is a good-looking dude so I guess it’s a compliment.”

– Brady Ellison (USA) on dozens of frivolous international press articles suggesting he looks like  – or possibly even is – Leonardo DiCaprio

 

“Who ever wins, wins: it’s archery. It’s not life and death.”

 – Zach Garrett on going up against Brady Ellison

 

“Bowing is in their culture, they bow as we shake hands. We respect them so much and they would always do the same for us.”

 – Jake Kaminski (USA) on the USA men’s team bowing to the Koreans on the field after the win

“Yes, if I go back out there and do it.”

 – Park Sung Hyun, archery legend, on whether she believes that her 1405 FITA world record will ever be broken. (She was there to commentate for Korean TV along with husband and fellow legend Park Kyung-Mo). 

 

“When it´s time for me to sleep, I always think about archery. That is why I can stay on top.”

– Ki Bo Bae (KOR)

 

“For me, it tastes like rainbow coloured candy.”

– Chang Hyejin on what her first gold medal tastes like

 

“I’m still hungry.”

– Choi Misun on what her first gold medal tastes like

 

“I did cry. You just couldn’t see me.”

– Choi Misun on why she did not visibly cry on winning team gold

 

[Made no statement after crying and remaining silent for 16 seconds]

– Choi Misun after her individual early bath

 

“The important thing is that you have to fight until the last arrow, with your heart and mind.”

Ilario Di Buo (ITA) – six-time Olympian and Italian women’s coach

“Every athlete’s dream is to come to the Olympics and to become an Olympian in their life. Whether I win or lose, I want to compete with champions.”

 – Karma (BHU)

 

“We just thought that all the cheers were all for us.”

 – Guendalina Sartori (ITA), on the crowd cheering against them and for Brazil

 

 “Perfect is hard to beat. That was a world-record performance that they put on. You’re not going to see three sets going that high probably ever again.”

 – Brady Ellison on the Korean men’s team performance in the final

 

“I see Korea as a challenge, not a threat.”

 – Tan Ya-Ting (TPE)

 

“Everybody that I meet along the way, everybody you meet adds something to your life. My mother is my coach, my team manager, she’s my everything. She has always been there for me in archery, she is my biggest rock.”

– Shehzana Anwar (KEN) on her heroes

 

“If I fail, I fail my whole country, so I need to play my part and do it good.”

 – Yessica Camilo Gonzalez (DOM), on representing her country

 

“Shooting one point more than your opponent.”

 – Rick Van Der Ven (NED) on what it will take to win the gold medal here in Rio. Yeah, thanks Rick.

 

“It’s a dream, like a little boy, when you start practising archery and you’re getting better and better and (at) a little young age you are dreaming about shooting at the Olympics… so yeah, dreams come true.”

 – Mitch Dielemans (NED), on dreaming

 

“It’s a joke. I think it takes away from our sport. I don’t know any other sport where you can make a huge detrimental mistake and still win.

“It’s no longer ‘the best team wins’. It’s a beautiful sport and I don’t think you should be able to make big mistakes and win. Individually, we’re used to it (the set system). In the team rounds there’s no place for it.”

 – Brady Ellison on the set system in team rounds

 

“We’re the first Britons competing with the newly designed GB kit on. If you think about it historically, archers in battle were always the first people to attack, because of the long-range aspects of the weapon. So that fits in quite nicely with Britons leading the charge.”

 – Patrick Huston (GBR), on being the first Olympic sport out of the gate

 

“There’s no one I fear. I don’t want to meet a Korean in one of the early rounds of the tournament, because they won’t be nervous and will be whitewashing everybody. So if I rank well in qualification, that’ll keep me avoiding them for a while. But in the last 16 or later? They’re probably more nervous than I’m going to be. I’ve mentally rehearsed beating them all, so (in my mind) I’ve beaten them before and I’ll beat them again.”

 – Patrick Huston on the mental game

 

“I’d like to watch Usain Bolt run the 100m. And the rhythmic gymnastics.”

 – Kim Woojin on other sporting events he would like to go see at Rio 2016. Why didn’t I follow this up with “Rhythmic what now?”

 

“My Korean colleagues.”

 – Ku Bonchan on who he fears facing most

 

“Any one of us has to win the gold medal. It’s kind of a competition among Korean archers. So I’m very grateful to my friend Chang Hyejin, she has fulfilled her responsibility.”

 – Ki Bo Bae, one of several quotes illustrating that Korea consider Olympic archery gold medals manifest destiny

 

“The only real difference is the silence for archery when you shoot. You do samba with your feet. Archery with your hands. The emotion and the excitement is the same.”

 – Ane Marcelle Dos Santos (BRA), samba dancer, on the difference between doing samba and archery in the Sambodromo

 

“Archery is my life, and I was born for only archery.”

– Bombalya Devi Laishram (IND)

 

*Thanks to all the archers;  Kendra, Catrell, Chris, Andrea, and Ludi.*