Brady Ellison of Team USA competes during the men’s individual gold medal match against Woojin Kim of Team Republic of Korea during the Paris Olympics. Ellison, one of the most dominating athletes in the sport, came away with a silver medal. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
PARIS – Five-time Olympic archer Brady Ellison narrowly missed winning the gold medal Sunday. However, for his wife, Toja Ellison, and his devoted supporters in Arizona, he remains a champion.
Brady, an Arizona native, has represented his country on the world stage numerous times in his career. This summer, he brought home the silver medal in the men’s individual and the bronze in the mixed team doubles alongside women’s archer Casey Kauffold.
His silver came after an epic five-set battle with South Korea’s Kim Woojin.
“I’m not upset that he barely beat me in that shootoff,” Brady, 35, told reporters. “We shot like champions and that’s what it’s all about.”
Few have dominated the sport as Ellison has. His streak of holding the longest continuous period as the world top-ranked men’s recurve archer, from August 2011 to April 2013, has yet to be broken. Although he grew up in Arizona, he now resides in Billings, Montana.
Toja, her-husband’s self-proclaimed number one fan and a decorated compound archer in her own right, was sitting in the front row for all of his matches in Paris.
“I always tell him that being able to see him and his greatness, not just in archery, but as a father, as a husband, as a friend, from the first row, the first seat, is a blessing,” Toja said.
Brady and Toja met in 2014 and have been supporting each other through international competitions ever since. The Paris Games are the third time Toja has attended an Olympics as Brady’s primary support system.
“We both compete at a high level so we understand what it takes,” she said. “The Olympic Games are obviously a cherry on top that I can’t do because I’m shooting a compound but being able to support him here and support him every day is a blessing. It’s something I don’t take lightly.”
Currently, the Olympics only recognize recurve archery in the Games, something many compound archers have been fighting for years to have changed.
The difference between the two kinds of archery, according to the official Olympic committee site, is in the bows.
Recurve bows lack the complex pulley system and let-off feature that is present in compound bows.
At Arizona Archery Club in Phoenix, the lack of compound archers in the Olympics is not stopping young athletes from dreaming of the day they will be recognized, or cheering for Arizona’s athletes.
Shaley Smith and Will Laguna, members of Arizona Archery Club’s Junior Olympic Archery Development team, both shoot compound bows but have big plans for their future in the sport.
“Eventually I want to get into the Olympics, but as of right now, compound isn’t recognized in the Olympics,” Laguna said. “So hopefully at one point it will be.”
Smith agreed but added, “I’m looking to become number one.”
For Smith and Laguna, having a hometown hero like Ellison to look up to is a bonus as they develop their own careers.
Arizona Archery Club JOAD coach Bud Lord has been coaching the team for the past three years and recognizes how special it is to have professionals like Ellison for young Arizona athletes to admire.
“I think Arizona is one of the leading states in the U.S. when it comes to archery. We have a very strong body of archers, but we also have a strong organization that promotes archery,” Lord said. “it’s exciting to see some of these nationally recognized people, Eric Bennett, a ParaOlympian and Brady Ellison a five-time Olympian as well.
“I think in the state of Arizona we have a lot of good things going on to help excel the sport.”