MASON CITY - Vic Wunderle is used to rolling hills.

He has seen them on a routine basis for more than two months while training and practicing archery in the solitude outside his family home nestled south of Mason City.

In August, he'll attempt to become familiar with a different set of rolling hills, the ones in Athens.

No, not the central Illinois town pronounced Ay-thens. Wunderle is headed to Greece's ancient capital to compete in the Summer Olympics, and it probably won't be too tranquil.

"Sometimes it can be relatively quiet," Wunderle said of Olympic competition. "Sometimes it's so noisy you can feel the vibration. There's not many opportunities we get to practice in a scenario similar to this."

He will be shooting in Panathinaiko Stadium, the sight of the first modern games and a place he has been to twice before.

"Unfortunately once (last November) was in the dark and the other time was when I was a kid and I never I dreamed I would be shooting archery inside of it, but it's a beautiful place," Wunderle said.

The stadium might become beautiful and boisterous as those in attendance are encouraged to cheer to make the sport more spectator-friendly. But that's not necessarily archer-friendly.

"It's something we have to prepare for and try to stay focused and get the job done," he said.

Only three archers from the United States advance to the Olympics. Wunderle, 28, has qualified twice, most recently in June in Mason, Ohio, when he finished with the highest score at the Olympic trials.

He did the same four years ago to reach the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, where he earned an individual silver medal and a team bronze.

Wunderle and his teammates are looking for something a little shinier to wear around their necks.

"That's the top step of the ladder. There's no place but down from there," chuckled Wunderle, who has received almost every accolade archery has to offer. "Just the opportunity to compete for an Olympic gold medal is just something you can only dream of."

His dream came to fruition in 2000 with his first-place qualifying effort. He placed sixth in the trials in 1996 and 16th in 1992 as a 16-year-old.

"It's one of those things that you never know you could do it until you've done it," Wunderle said of his experience in Sydney. "A lot of it is things you can't describe in words as far as the feeling. It was very nice for me to have my family and coach there, (people) who had been with me from the time that the stream was started, getting to see the dream achieved. That was a wonderful feeling."

Another moment that touched Wunderle happened when a competitor from Belgium congratulated him on winning the silver, one of many occasions when he saw any international political tension left at the stadium gates.

"Even though the countries of the world can't always get along, it seems like it's very rare that there's a disagreement between the athletes of different countries," he said. "There seems to be a general mutual respect for each other and what they do."

For the United States to do what it hopes for as a team, the Americans will have to overcome such foes as South Korea and Italy, who took home the gold and silver in 2000. Since then, the U.S. men have beaten all major threats to the gold.

Earlier this year, the Americans defeated the Italian national team and every other top European squad in a tournament in Europe. A couple of years ago, the United States bested South Korea in a close match in Turkey.

"We've definitely shown that we're capable of winning, but at the Olympics everybody's going to be prepared and at the top of their game," Wunderle said. "We intend to give it our best and make a good run at the gold."

"With either (team or individual), it's just a matter of being on and having our day. I think if two of the three of us can be having a really good day that day and the third guy is shooting average, I think that'd be enough to win us the gold."

Wunderle's teammates are first-time Olympian John Magera of Carterville and four-time qualifier Richard Johnson of Woodstock, Conn. Jason McKittrick of Milan, Ind., is the alternate.

Wunderle has come a long way from when he was a 5-year-old with a 10-pound bow made out of a willow tree branch.

"The bow I'm using now is slightly more advanced," Wunderle said with a laugh when comparing his first bow to his current weapon of precision, complete with an aluminum handle and wooden carbon limbs measuring in at 69 inches from tip to tip and weighing around 45 pounds before an arrow is released. "There's something with little boys and anything that shoots."

There's something about the Wunderle family and anything to do with archery.

Vic is just one willow branch of a familial fancy with the sport. His father, Terry, and his sisters, Sally and Dawn, all have been nationally and internationally acclaimed archers. Vic and Sally are the only members actively competing. Sally recently went to Croatia to take part in the World Field Championships in early July.

"A way of life is the best way to describe it," said Terry Wunderle, a former national and world champion in the 1980s who privately instructs hundreds of students around the country.

Then there's Vic's girlfriend, Joy Fahrenkrog. The Castle Rock, Colo., native used to be a full-time assistant stock trader in Boston. Last June, in spite of starting the sport about 18 months earlier, she placed sixth in qualifying for the U.S. Olympic women's team.

"Once I saw the progress I was making, it became a reality check," Fahrenkrog said of taking up archery as a full-time pursuit. "I gave up a good job to do this. I'm not at the point where I can make a living off shooting, but I look at this way: in a year and a half, I've made this much progress. Why quit?"

Fahrenkrog will travel with the Wunderles to Athens in August to cheer on Vic, but she could be going to the Olympics as an athlete in four years.

"It is a dream of hers as well," Vic Wunderle said. "She had a lot of individual talent, and she worked really hard. It was helpful that she was able to learn from my experiences, but she put in a lot of hard work and came further than anyone I thought could come on such a short amount of time."

Vic Wunderle travels around the world competing, but he owes a large part of his success to Springfield, or at least to a man who ran Springfield Archery Center off Dirksen Parkway.

There he met Larry Skinner, who saw an Olympic archer in the young kid. In 1989, Wunderle had his first lesson from Skinner and started working with an Olympic bow. Fifteen years later, Skinner lives in Moberly, Mo., but is still Vic's coach.

"He told me that with the talent that I had I would have a chance of going to the Olympics someday," Vic Wunderle said. "He's like family to us.''

But at first, the young Wunderle needed a little convincing.

"I was looking for a boy to train to be an Olympian," Skinner said. "He seemed like a good candidate. I thought he had what it might take. It took me about a year to talk him into it."

As a man who has lived in California, Florida and Texas during the last eight years, Vic Wunderle would like someday to establish a permanent residence in Mason City, but that doesn't mean he'll be ready to hang up his bow and quiver.

"I knew he'd be the best in the world if he wanted to be," said Terry Wunderle. "He could be a lot better. He hasn't peaked in his career."

That thought could produce a different type of quiver - from his opposition.

"I'm actually shooting better now than I was four years ago, but there's a lot of other people in the world that have gotten better in the same amount of time too," Vic Wunderle said. " So we'll see how the cards play out in Athens."

Golden arrows may be of ancient Greek lore, but gold medals might not be such a myth for Wunderle come August.

"I think Vic is getting pretty much on top of his game," Skinner said. "We want him to peak at the Olympics because you don't want to peak too early. He definitely wants a gold medal. That's what his mind set is on."

The Wunderles are still missing several practice targets that were stolen last November.

Out of all the targets taken, the most recognizable was a four-foot, white circular Styrofoam target.

"It's a very specialized target," Vic Wunderle said. "If you see one, there's a good possibility it's mine."

The family asks anyone who has any information on the whereabouts of the targets to contact the Mason County Sheriff's Department at (309) 543-2231.

"We'd like to have those returned and like to ensure that it doesn't occur in the future," Vic said.

Those wanting more information on the archer or who would like to follow his progress in Athens should visit his Web site, www.vicwunderle.com.

Steve Schmidt can be reached