Argentine coach misses flight to watch Maria Eugenia win bronze

Argentina’s Maria Eugenia Gonzalez Briozzo won a surprise bronze medal at the fourth stage of the Archery World Cup.

The 38-year-old, who qualified 12th at Medellin 2015, beat Mexico’s Ana Cristina Juarez to the compound women’s podium by three points. She took the lead after the first three arrows and, after that, it was never closer than the final score.

Maria Eugenia couldn’t hold back her emotions after the match.

“I can’t believe this,” she said, crying with happiness. “I have worked a lot for this. It’s actually more than we expected. My goal was to improve last year.”

The Medellin stage of the Archery World Cup in 2014 was her first international event.

“My coach had to change his flight as he was supposed to leave today. You always want to make the finals but based on my previous results, we didn’t think it was possible.”

“When we finally realised I was shooting in the finals, we took the decision for him to stay.”

The bronze medal is sure to take the sting out of the logistical issues the Argentinian team now faces.

“He actually only changed his flight about an hour ago,” she said, laughing. “He doesn’t have anywhere to sleep tonight!”