June 27, 2004

Joy Fahrenkrog, a former Castle Pines resident and DCHS student, finished sixth in the U.S. Olympic Archery Trials last weekend in Mason, Ohio.

Only a year and a half ago did Fahrenkrog set out on her quest to make the U.S. Olympic Archery team. Fahrenkrog, an accomplished rower, once had dreams of rowing in the Olympics but switched her focus to archery when it appeared questionable that her specialty of lightweight doubles would be offered at the 2004 Olympic Games. As it turned out, lightweight rowing survived potential cancellation from the Olympics, but Fahrenkrog had already made her choice.

During the trials, she survived the first two cuts and made it to field of eight finalists, which included former Olympians and some of the top archers in America today. The top three finalists were chosen for the Olympic team for this year’s competition in Athens, Greece.

Undaunted, Fahrenkrog plans to continue competing at world-class events in archery.

She shared her thoughts with Castle Rock Sunday Star Sports Editor Mike Oakley recently via email.

MO: Can you describe the experience of the trials and the emotions you felt?

JF: There was a mix of emotions, to say the least. On the first day, I spent most of the morning in second place having worked my way up from ninth, but finished in seventh only eight points out of second. On the second day, the wind kicked up and my inexperience definitely started to kick in. The day started out well. I was able to move up to fourth place right away, but then as the day wore on, I slowly moved back down and finished in eighth. I made a huge charge on the third day, winning six straight matches (only losing the first one) and worked my way back up to the fifth-place spot hardly out of fourth and still close to third. The fourth day was again another lack-luster day and pushed me back to seventh place. This particular day frustrated me because I knew I could shoot hand over fist better than I did and I felt as though every time I had a legitimate shot, my body and my mind refused to accept it. The last day I remember waking up think! ing that there was an outside chance I could still make the alternate spot, as I was only 30 points or so out of 4th place. The day before had been bad but not too damaging. I basically figured I had nothing to lose and went out with a great attitude, winning 4 of my 7 matches and moving up to finish in 6th place.

MO: You had to face several cuts - the first one to 16 and then the next one to eight. When you made the cut to eight, was it tough to sleep at night and did you find it harder to compete against the other seven women who were left in the competition?

JF: The cuts were definitely interesting. Until this point, I had not had a successful start in any of my tournaments. My qualification rounds usually put me in 14th to 18th place and then I would work my way up during the elimination matches the next day usually to 4th or 5th place. I knew going into this tournament that placing that low in the qualification round would put me in a tough spot for having any hope at all of making the team. I had expressed these concerns to my sports psychologist, Alan Goldberg with Competitive Advantage and he had helped me shift my focus from making the qualification round one of the most important days to "just another day." I think you saw a lot of the women put too much emphasis on the first day, for example, number 4 ranked Stephanie Miller didn't even make the first cut, neither did number 2 ranked and 2000 Olympic team member Karen Scavatto. Once I was able to get through the first cut, I was pretty ha! ppy with myself, for starters because the tournament had started out so well, and also there is some weight lifted off your shoulders knowing that you aren't going home.

My biggest concern about making the top 8 was that my mom and sister wouldn't get to see me compete. I had told my mom not to come until the last two days because I thought it would be a better time to be there and that is when I would need them most. Of course at the end of the second day, all sorts of thoughts were running through my head. First, I didn't know it, but the computer system had a glitch and had me in 10th place instead of 8th, so I went home thinking that there was a real chance I wasn't going to make the cut if I didn't have a better third day. Fortunately for me, I was a little more occupied with my shooting and the computer error, I didn't even notice I was only "in the cut" by 2 points. Not knowing how close I was to the edge, I blindly went in the next day telling myself I was going to do the best form I could and hope it was enough. It was and I can promise you I slept well that night! I had made the final! s of the Olympic Archery Trials.

As far as competing against the other 7 women goes, one thing I will say for those who were left - they were tough competitors. The ironic thing is that, with the exception of Janet Dykman and Jenny Nichols, most of the women in the top 8 were not who avid archery fans would have expected. That being said, the final 8 became a fabulous group of girls to watch. At that point, Jenny Nichols was one of the only ones left that anyone might have predicted and she had taken almost a 200 point lead as well as winning nearly all of her matches. As for the other girls, Stephanie Arnold, was shooting amazingly well for having never won a major tournament and using the same bow she has used since 1993. Judy Duvoll was the 15 year veteran who was making a splash having announced that the Trials would be her last tournament. Janet Dykman was out for a third consecutive Olympic Team. Kendra Harvey was starting to make a name for herself as a 16 y! ear old phenom from New Mexico and Ashley Kamuf, my training partner the past few months wasn't about to let me have any room to play with. Jessica Carleton wasn't about to let this be her third Olympics where she came in 4th place.

MO: What were your expectations heading into the trials? Obviously, you feel some disappointment at not making the final three, but isn't there a lot of pride in finishing sixth overall?

JF: As far as expectations leading into the trials, I was trying to focus on not having any. I know it sounds like a hard concept to grasp, but I've found through working with Alan Goldberg and attending different tournaments, when you expect things, they usually don't happen. Needless to say, although I was working on not having expectations, I was hoping deep down that I would have a spot on that Olympic team. Going into the Trials I felt great about my shooting and I knew that I could make it. Having not had a ton of experience with trials like these, I struggled to completely set the goal of making the Olympic team aside and just shoot. Having said that, there is an enormous amount of respect reserved for those who make the final 8 in the archery world. I was amazed at the reaction I received not only from the archery community, but outside the archery community as well. Technically, spots 4, 5, and 6 make up the alternate team even! though only the 4th spot is announced and awarded. So I do feel very honored and privileged to have made it that far. The most frequent response I am getting right now is more along the lines of "you went from 61st in the country to 6th in the country in just a year and a half, that is awesome!" I am also getting a lot of emails encouraging me to keep training and to not be discouraged.

MO: Will you still be going to Athens with Vic (Wunderle, Fahrenkrog's boyfriend and the top finisher of the men’s division at the trials)? What was it like watching him compete and win, or did you get to see many of his matches?

JF: I will be in Athens from August 8th to the 25th. I am very thankful that my mom has stepped in and offered to cover the cost of my trip. She wants me to experience it now so that I have something to look forward to the next four years. During the last Olympics I was glued to the TV, during this one I'll get to watch in the flesh. I can only imagine that it will help me have a more tangible idea of what it is like to be an athlete.

I am very proud of Vic, not only did he win the Olympic trials, but he shot scores that would win an Olympic gold. Because we were shooting at the same time, I only knew how he was doing when the director of shooting would announce the scores. I tried not to focus to much on his shooting mostly because I needed to stay focused on mine, but I was secretly happy when I knew he was doing so well.

MO: What's the future hold? You're still really young. Will you continue to compete?

The future holds what it will. I am a strong believer in God and his plan for each individual person. As much as I wanted to be on that team this year, I know there was a reason I wasn't and I know that by putting my faith back in his plan, more rewards will come.

For the immediate future, I have the National Championships in one month in Reading, PA where I hope to improve on my 25th place from last year and make a run at the 2005 US National Team (top 8 shooters in the country). I will also be training for the World Indoor Team which will be determined in January and will compete in Denmark in March. Between now and the next Olympics there are 4 World's teams (2 indoor and 2 outdoor) as well as several European Grand Prix teams, the Pan Am Games and the Beijing Olympic Test event. I hope to put myself in a good position to make as many of those teams as possible to gain the experience I so lacked these past trials so that I will be stronger for the next ones.

In order to finance these trips and my training, I will most continue to raise money on my website www.aim4athens.com (I'll probably need to think of a new name!) and I will also be figuring out a job to supplement the fundraising. The fundraising was so amazing these past 6 months. I raised nearly $15,000 and covered the majority of my costs. People were incredibly generous and I am so thankful to all those who believed in me and what I was doing. None of it would have been worth doing alone!