Penny Healey sets new Paris 2024 targets after team exit
For Penny Healey the mood after GB women’s archers went out of the Olympic team in the opening round was a mix of disappointment and defiance.
Disappointment at the result, a straight sets loss to Germany. Defiance after an individual performance in which she finally showed some of the class which propelled her to world No.1 a little over 12 months ago.
“I’m not done fighting for that medal,” declared the 19-year-old from Telford, who faces South Korea’s Hunyoung Jeon in the opening round of the individual tournament on Thursday.
Healey, who had written “Nothing to lose” on her hand in Biro ahead of last Thursday’s ranking round, had a new message penned for Sunday's team competition.
“Be confident,” it read. “When I’m practising, I feel different things,” Healey later explained.
“On Thursday heading into qualifying I felt a certain way and wrote it down. Today I felt I needed to be more confident in myself. I just had it down there as a little reminder.”
You couldn’t help but wonder if she had looked at the message after an opening set in which she could hit only two sevens and Germany cruised.
