Shropshire's Penny Healey helps fire Team GB into action in Paris
Shropshire hope Penny Healey is confident GB’s archers can still win an Olympic medal despite a “disappointing” result in her ranking round.
Britain’s women will take on Germany in the opening round of Sunday’s team competition after hitting the 11th best overall scores.
Healey, meanwhile, placed 52nd in the individual rankings with the 19-year-old former world No.1, competing her first Olympics, later conceding nerves might have gotten the better of her.
Describing her performance as “a bit disappointing” Healey, from Newport, in Shropshire, who had scrawled “nothing to lose” across her hand before the competition, continued: “I was very nervous. I kept saying to myself that I was just excited. No – you’re nervous, girl. Everyone’s going to be nervous, it’s the Olympic Games.
“I know I can bring it in the head-to-heads, so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The team competition takes place on Sunday, with Healey then scheduled to face South Korea’s Hunyoung Jeon in the opening round of the women’s individual competition next Thursday.
“We want to win,” she said. “It’s our first Games as a team together and we’re going to bring it the best we can, and I believe we can medal.”
Meanwhile, Healey says she is “definitely” planning on attending tonight’s opening ceremony, where athletes will parade down the Seine in a six-kilometre flotilla ending in front of the Trocadero, where the final shows will take place. She might be seen staying close to Adam Peaty when the GB boat begins its voyage.
She joked: “I’m quite scared of boats and water. It’ll be fine. If something happens and there are swimmers, I’ll just grab hold of them!”
