Archers

Three-time Olympian Deepika Kumari has dominated the Indian archery scene for quite some time now. Currently ranked no. 1 in the world, she has bagged several medals, including an Asian Championship gold. The daughter of a auto-rickshaw driver, she grew up practicing archery with bamboo bows and arrows.

Part of Chinese folklore, Hou Yi, also known as Shen Yi, is the Chinese god of archery. Equipped with a tiger bone bow, he is said to have saved humanity by shooting down 9 out of 10 suns. His wife, the moon goddess Chang’e, eventually took away the elixir of immortality from him.

The son of Theseus, Hippolytus was a Greek mythical figure, popularized by Euripides in his play Hippolytus. Girls in Troezen offered him a lock of their hair before getting married. His neglect of Aphrodite led her to cause his stepmother Phaedra to fall for him and eventually led him to his death.

Lars Andersen is a Danish painter and archer. He graduated from the School of Visual Art and received private training under popular painter and graphic designer Otto Frello. As an archer, he has posted many videos on YouTube, some of which have gone viral, receiving millions of views. His videos have also been criticized for their historical and scientific inaccuracies. 

Luis Gabriel Moreno is a Filipino archer best known for winning a gold medal at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games, where he represented Mixed-NOCs. He also represented the Philippines at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games, where he won a bronze medal. In 2021, Luis Gabriel Moreno was honored by the De La Salle Alumni Association with a sports achievement award.

Colombian archer Sara López competes in compound-archery. She holds several world-records including one for a 15-arrow round. She shot a perfect 150 at stage 3 of World Cup in 2013 becoming the first woman to do so and attained her highest world-ranking of 3 that year. Achievements of López include winning Archery World Cup six-times in compound women’s individual event.  

Initially a U.S. Air Force cadet, Erika Eiffel later established herself as an award-winning archer. She also established OS Internationale, an organization for objectum sexuals, or people who develop relationships with inanimate objects. She was featured in the documentary Married to the Eiffel Tower, which explored her attraction to the Eiffel Tower.

Zahra Nemati is an Iranian Olympic and Paralympic archer best known for winning gold medals for Iran in major competitions like Paralympic Games and World Para-archery Championships. Nemati competed in taekwondo prior to a car accident that left her paralyzed. Zahra Nemati was the flag bearer for her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Song dynasty archery teacher Zhou Tong remains a legendary Chinese hero. Originally from Henan, he was later hired to train Chinese military general Yue Fei in military tactics of archery as a boy. However, later fictional accounts of Zhou Tong described him as Yue Fei’s adoptive father.

Tapio Rautavaara was a Finnish singer, actor, and athlete. He is best remembered for winning the gold medal in the javelin throw event at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. A former world champion, Rautavaara also won a bronze medal at the 1946 European Championships in Oslo. As a musician, Rautavaara is credited with inspiring other musicians like Ville Valo.  

Toja Ellison is a Slovenian compound archer who won a gold medal at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus. Ellison also has a couple of World Cup silver medals under her belt. Toja Ellison first came into prominence in 2017 when she won a silver medal at the World Games in Wrocław, Poland.