News feature
In Buenos Aires, the young stars of the future assembled
The Youth Olympic Games: a harbinger for the future of the sport
Archery at the Youth Olympic Games is a scaled down version of the 'big dance', with 64 athletes rather than 128, no full teams, and a unique mixed event. Athletes in this edition of the YOG were all born between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2003, and are referred to as ' boys' and ' girls'. All six of the podium finishers at the 2014 edition in Nanjing went to represent their country’s senior teams in international competition.
The USA’S Trenton Cowles dropped just one point through five matches on his way to winning the individual boys’ title, taking the gold medal with a straight-set win over India’s Akash in the final, after the Indian shot two sixes to sink his chances. “I’ll take away the experience of shooting with all these archers, being on a stage, on live television and shooting with some of the best in the world,” said Cowles afterwards. He was promptly named the United States Olympic Committee’s male athlete of October 2018 for his performance.
China’s Zhang Mengyao beat Elia Canales of Spain, 6-2, in the girls’ gold medal match to become the second consecutive Chinese athlete to hold the Youth Olympic title. Seeded first after qualification with a score of 675, Zhang averaged 28 points each threearrow set and only surrendered a single set point through her first three matches. “I don’t think much. I just do the best I can. If I lose I don’t get sad but if I win, I get happy,” said Zhang.
Rebecca Jones of New Zealand, featured in the last issue of Bow for being for becoming the first athlete directly inspired by the Hunger Games to go to a Youth Olympics, topped becoming the first NZ archer to be selected for the competition by finishing a highly creditable seventh.
Despite seeding 31st of 32 archers, she fought her way to the quarterfinals, after dramatically upsetting the number two seed Ruka Uehara of Japan in a shootoff in her first match. She then beat Quinn Reddig of Namibia, finally coming up short against Valentina Vasquez of Mexico.
“I wasn’t even expecting to get this far through so it’s been really cool. I was just out there doing what I could and having a good time. I was just having fun shooting,” she told World Archery afterwards.
“It’s been so amazing. I feel so proud to be part of the New Zealand team and it’s an honour to represent my country here.”
For GBR, Alyssia Tromans-ansell put in a decent performance trying to make the quarter finals, after qualifying a creditable tenth with 652, but was beaten by Valentina Vasquez of Mexico in her second match. Dan Thompson, the other GBR recurve (each nation can send up to two) was beaten by Carlos Vaca, also of Mexico, in the first round, without getting a point on the board.
The mixed team event at the Youth Olympics is unique in that it pairs athletes from different countries, with the pairs decided automatically after qualification. The highest-scoring girl is matched with the lowest-scoring boy, and so on up the table. This throws up curious international partnerships, and presents problems with language too. “I find it a bit difficult because sign language is what’s left and I’m not very good at it but my coach is helping me and I’m learning how to express myself better,” said Mexico’s Valentina Vazquez, paired in Buenos Aires with Alikhan Mustafin of Kazakhstan.
In the end the event was won by a pair of very close countries indeed, Jose Manuel Solera of Spain shooting with Kyla TouraineHelias of France.
The wider Games was mostly judged a success, although it is still not a foreverpermanent fixture in the sporting calendar, with more general long-term rumblings over its purpose in international sport. However, it remains an important test-bed for future Summer Games events and a core part of the IOC mission to bring Olympism to youth. The next competition will be in Dakar, Senegal in 2022, and will be the first IOC event to be held in Africa.