London Olympics: Men's Team Takes Silver

Editor's Note: Cindy Bevilacqua, co-owner of and a Westtown resident, catches us up on her

July 31, 2012

It’s the Men’s day today July 28. We will be shooting team round and have been seeded in a tough bracket. Our first match was a bye and then we came up against Japan, which we ended up winning. Now we have to beat the Korean’s. This is the match of the games.  USA vs. Korea.  If you ask us, this right now, this is the Gold medal match but we are only in the semi’s. Who do you think won????  Yes the USA MEN’S TEAM! We all were cheering and so, so excited! These men are awesome, but still have to get ready for one more match against Italy for the Gold medal. Unfortunately we came in 2nd and will bring home the Silver Medal. I’m so proud of this team. Now the medal ceremony and off for media. We all met up with a good friend of ours, Jim Easton. He has been our supporter for along time and if it wasn’t for Jim, archery wouldn’t be where it is today. Thanks to him and his family for dedicating their life to archery for us.

July 29—has been dedicated to the Women Teams. Our team had a bye first off too. Then we meet up with China. Our ladies shoot well, but fell short of their gold. We all came out to practice today, to get ready for the individual matches tomorrow. At lunchtime the Men’s Team had the opportunity to teach Apollo Ono (Speed Skater) how to shoot. This was so cool, check out the picture. Dinner is good today, had shrimp again with pasta along with my McFlurry (only ice cream in the village). This was a late night for me, cause I had to organize the brackets and when everyone would shoot and organize the spreadsheet.

July 30—Off to the bus at 6:40 a.m. so we can get to the field by 7:40 a.m. to start warming-up for Miranda Leek’s first head-to-head set play match. One must score six points to be declared the winner. Miranda won the 1/32 round, but fell short on the 16th. I was her agent, which means I verify the scoring and pull her arrows. Miranda is our only competitor for the day. Everyone else is out at the practice field getting ready for the next couple of days. Had some rain today too.

July 31—Rode the 7:10 a.m. bus today, so we would be there for Jacob Wukie, an alumni of JMU along with me. His 1/32 match went off at 9:13 a.m. which he won 6-2. He too fell short in the 1/16 match. Next up was Jenny Nichols. She tied her 1/32 match and then went into a one-arrow shoot off. So the arrow closest to the center wins…..  Yes, she won with the closest “9.”  It was raining throughout the day and cold in the morning. Those still in the competition were out on the practice field getting ready for tomorrow. We were able to come back to the village by 5ish. Walked over to the mall and then to Olympic Park. It has been really nice to have a little time to relax today. I've been sitting in the lounge and at my apartment watching the Olympics.

Good Luck Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Khatuna Lorig in your matches tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a good night.

Cindy Bevilacqua

Olympic Team Leader 2012 Archery