6 May 2010 - Wietse VAN ALTEN (NED): “Archery decides my life”

Wietse VAN ALTEN (NED): “Archery decides my life”
Porec, 6 May 2010

The 2000 Olympic bronze medallist Wietse VAN ALTEN (NED) was recently appointed as Athlete Role Model for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. He is now the Dutch national coach for recurve (Olympic discipline) archery and trainer in a full-time talent program in the Netherlands. We met him in Porec where he travelled as head of the Dutch delegation.

What are you doing now and what is your involvement in archery?
I started working as a trainer in our Olympic Training Centre in the Netherlands at the end of 2008. The reason I became a coach is that I missed out on my 3rd Olympic Games in Beijing and had to think about the future and decide if I wanted to go on shooting, be a trainer, or maybe do something totally different. At that time a group of young archers started training at our centre and needed a coach. The question was, do we want to hire an experienced trainer from another country or a coach from our own country and develop our own programme? Since I like sports and especially archery, I applied for the position and they hired me. This is how I became a trainer right after my active career. I was already pursuing the coaching course before this in the Netherlands. In the middle of 2009 I also received the responsibility of our senior Olympic programme for the recurve division (Olympic discipline). So besides being trainer at the Olympic Training Centre I am also the coach of the Dutch senior team.

As Athlete Role Model for the Youth Olympic Games, what example and what message would you like to give to the youth?
I’m really honoured that FITA asked me to be the Athlete Role Model for archery. As an archer and coach, I can be an example for young people, and I hope to inspire them. It is the first time that the Youth Olympic Games will be held. I’m very excited about this sports event. I think it will be a very special experience for athletes and coaches to be in such a big event with people from all over the world. It will be like a mini Olympic Games. I will try to help the young archers understand that it’s a great opportunity for them to experience what the Olympic Games – the “big Games” – are about. This is also a part of their education, in learning and understanding how life is and how people think in other countries, etc. I think that part will also help the young archers become better athletes and individuals. I would like them to enjoy the Youth Olympics and to have fun – this is important for all sportsmen and women from all sports. When you do something like this, you have to do it because you like it. Even if you reach a level like Tiger Woods and earn a lot of money, it is crucial that you still enjoy the sport.

For example, it is raining here in Porec, but if you walk down the field with the young archers, they don’t care that it’s raining, if they think of the people who are sitting home or stuck in a traffic jam... They have the opportunity to travel and they enjoy it. Only pop stars have a little more (smile). To have the opportunity to go to countries and compete – it’s the perfect life!

What do you think of the junior archers of today?
The level is much higher than when I was a junior, because many countries like the Netherlands, Great Britain, Australia and many more now have very good programmes to build up their junior teams, train them and give them the basic skills they need in archery. Many countries worked on that in the last few years, and as a result more and more archers have a higher level in sports.

Please describe your experience as a junior, some 20 years ago.
If I look back on my own career I spent many hours shooting. I lived for shooting. I moved from my parents’ house to another city at 16 in order to receive better training in archery. If I think of the way I lived when I was a junior, that’s the way many juniors do it today. I’m really jealous of the programme we have now, I wish we’d had the same programme back then!

How did you discover archery?
I discovered archery when I was just 8; my best friend in elementary school was an archer and he invited me to go to the club with him and try archery. I went and I was very small and the bow was so big! However I received a very good explanation on how to shoot and I shot arrows in the very centre of the target: 10s! From that moment I was hooked and was really good for the first 2 months. Then I was bad for the next year and a half. My arrows went in front of the target and not into the target and I was always last at the tournaments. Someone even told my father I should find another sport! But this was my sport and I never thought of quitting. I managed to get better and better and really liked it! One of the most important things when young people start archery is that they receive a very good explanation on how to shoot. In order to like archery, they have to hit the centre of the target the first time.

You were very dedicated to archery from a very young age.
I did an interview on the radio when I was 11. At the time I was starting to have success as a junior and competed in my first international junior competition in Lilleshall (GBR). I was asked what I wanted to achieve in archery, and I said compete in the European Championships, maybe the World Championships, maybe even the Olympics.

What inspired you when you were a junior?
When I was young and had just started, I really looked up to some of our national archers, I looked at how they were shooting and performing. I always wanted to be better and better. When you start something very young, it kind of becomes a part of you, it becomes your way of life. For example you don’t go to parties but go to bed in order to be able to train the next day, you watch what you eat, you practice. Everything you do is for your sport. It was and still is a pleasure, even if I had to make sacrifices. Maybe I was a little disappointed when during school holidays my friends were going to parties and I was not, because I had to train the next day. But then in Sydney when I stood on the podium and Mr EASTON put the medal around my neck... what more can you hope for?

Going into the Sydney Games, did you think you could win a medal?
Of course everybody dreams of a medal! I could realistically hope for a medal. When I went to the Olympics I had been on the national team from age 16-17. By the time I moved out of my parents’ house I was shooting 1300 points at 90 metres and gained international experience. In 2000 I broke the European record in the FITA Round with 1358 points, and I also was in the top 10 in the World Ranking. We didn’t have the World Cup back then, but there were the Grand Prix, which were somehow equivalent to a World Cup stage. I had finished 2nd in a Grand Prix in Germany and our Dutch team had become European champions. Our team had a good preparation: we took part in several competitions and had a training camp in Madrid. We travelled to Sydney three times, including for the Test Event. I wasn’t going to the Olympics to just compete, I was there to do the best I could and was dreaming of a medal.

What can you tell us about your Olympic experience?
From the moment you arrive at the Games it is very special. As soon as you get off the plane everyone is there to help you. As archers we were not used to that. Then you arrive at the Olympic Village and it is a very special feeling. You live with thousands of people who have the same goals and the same dreams, no matter which country they come from. It is an opportunity to meet athletes from other sports who are very inspiring. In Sydney and Athens I met many Dutch athletes from other sports who you never meet otherwise, because we are normally only among other archers. That was a really special experience.

What about the competition?
At the beginning of the competition like most people I was very nervous in my first match, everything is so big, and there is an audience, which we archers are not used to. The tension was high. I think it’s very important for the athletes to consider that the Olympic event itself, whether in swimming, archery, etc, is exactly the same as any other championships – you have your bow, the arrows, the target. You have to take it as a normal competition. That was a way for me to put into perspective anything that happened. You see a lot of people trapped in the “big event” because it’s the Olympics.

In Sydney you shot all the way to the semifinal, which you lost. Then you came back with the highest score of the tournament to win the bronze medal. How did you manage such a performance after the defeat?
To be honest I do not really remember a lot of things of the shooting in Sydney. I shot against Stanislav ZABRODSKI (KAZ), then Sébastien FLUTE (FRA), then lost against Simon FAIRWEATHER (AUS) who went on to win the gold medal. In the semifinal match I was really comfortable; I don’t really remember the match itself. I guess I lost by 2 points against Simon. Then I walked out of the field and I had to get ready because the bronze final was being held immediately after the semifinal, while my opponent Magnus PETERSSON (SWE) had 45 minutes to relax and shoot some arrows. After I lost my match, I thought it was too bad, but I didn’t have time to talk to people on why I lost. I was really focused on what I was doing and this really helped me concentrate on the match for the bronze medal.

What are you best memories of the Olympics on and off the competition field?
The Sydney Olympic Games were the best ever for me, of course, because I won a medal which was a very beautiful thing. Apart from that the most memorable thing for me was to meet so many people, to be a part of the Olympic family, and then all the celebrations and the visit with the Queen. To be part of all this was really exciting – when I talk of all that I get goose bumps!

Your best result at the world level (3rd place) came when it counted most, at the Olympics. Do you have any explanation for that?
No. When I look back on the year 2000 in terms of scores and results in competition, it was a very good year for me. The whole year was busy with only one thing: the Olympic Games. But then again at the Olympic Games there are many archers who focus on the same targets as you do and who can win a medal. I won bronze and that’s the best thing that ever happened to me in archery, but there are many people who finished behind me who had amazing skills and had good results somewhere else. That week was very good for me!

What did this medal change in your life?
It didn’t really change much for me besides the fact that in the Netherlands many more people know me, and for my personal list of course it’s very good to mention it! As for archery in the Netherlands, when a sports federation has an Olympic medallist it shows that their training programme is working. For our federation it was very good to have an Olympic medal – especially for the development of the young archers.

What are your hopes for your future in archery?
I hope to pursue the work I’m doing and the programmes we run in the Netherlands. I hope to achieve good results as a coach at the Olympic Games and bring archery to a higher level in the Netherlands. We’re working hard on that. I have a really positive outlook for the future.

What would be your ideas to raise the awareness of archery worldwide?
I think it’s very difficult. In my opinion the change to the set system is a good thing because it makes archery easier to follow. But I think archery was, is, and will always be a difficult sport to bring to the public and the media. 

What are your passions and activities outside of archery?
Archery decides my life (smile)! Outside of it I really like spending my time fishing and riding my bike (road cycling). Since I started working as a trainer and coach I don’t have much free time, so I really like to spend time with my girlfriend. We just bought a house and I’m happy to be home and do simple things like watch television, because I travel so much! But my job is to work with young people, young archers who are improving day by day. I enjoy it and don’t see it as a job or working!

Thank you, Wietse, and all the best for the future!

Vanahé ANTILLE
FITA Communication