SA archer Wian Roux aiming for the stars at Paris Olympic Games

JOHANNESBURG - South African archer Wian Roux will be shooting his first arrow on Thursday in Paris.

The 21-year-old will be making his debut appearance at the Olympic Games.

The last time South Africa had an athlete competing in archery was Karen Hultzer at the 2012 Games and the last man to compete at the Games was Calvin Hartley at the 2008 Games.

The official opening for the Olympic Games is on Friday.

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Roux told EWN he was feeling positive and confident ahead of the competition.

"My feeling ahead of the competition is I'm positive. I've been practicing hard, I've been working the whole year... you can't do anything more. I'm feeling good, confident. So, that's probably all you can ask for regarding my hopes for the Olympics," said Roux.

The Tuks athlete will participate in the men’s individual ranking round on Thursday. Individual competitions at the Olympics begin with the ranking round, where each of the 64 archers shoots 72 arrows to determine their ranking for the single-elimination bracket.

"There are 64 men and only three medals, obviously, a medal would be good but to perform as good as possible with whatever happens then happens. It's a brutal game with the one-versus-one knockout. Anything can happen. You can win some, you can lose some. So, if I do my part and I lose, if I do my part and I win either way, I'll be happy," said Roux.

The athletes compete in this knockout system until the final according to their ranking, with the top-ranked archer facing off against the 64th-ranked archer, the second-ranked against the 63rd-ranked, and so on.

The 2022 African champion comes from a family of archers. His father, Patrick Roux, who is his coach/manager, was one and is with him in Paris to guide him.

"I got into archery from my dad. From the time that I was very young, he was still shooting, so it just came naturally. I've always wanted to do it, and it just progressed into a love for the sport and the competitive side of things."

Roux represented South Africa at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2018, where he finished 17th in both the individual and mixed team competitions. He’s the 2022 African Championships gold medalist and African silver medalist.

“Mentally for competitions, the way I prepare is just, there's some, I guarantee, sports psychology, and then also just positive affirmations, if you can call it that. I just keep believing, keep thinking positive things, visualizations of shooting on the field, on the range, that's that's what I use, the practice days as well for, is just to get an idea, get your mind to see yourself shooting perfect shots. When it happens, it doesn't surprise you, and it just comes more naturally."

Targets are 122cm in diameter and positioned 70m away from the archers, who must shoot their arrows as close to the centre of the target as possible in order to beat their opponents. Olympic archery comprises five events: two individual competitions for men and women, two team competitions (one each for men and women), and a mixed team competition, which returns to the programme after making its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.