Archer Alison aiming for Olympic glory

Archery ace Alison Williamson is aiming for gold as she prepares to compete in her fifth Olympics later this year.

Alison, from Tettenhall, has been practicing hard in Wolverhampton in a bid to qualify for Beijing.

She spoke to video journalist Victoria Hoe about her hopes for the year ahead. A Olympic archer from Wolverhampton is hoping to strike gold both on the target and with a medal at this year’s games in Beijing.

Alison Williamson is currently Great Britain’s number two woman archer and needs to maintain that position in two more tests this summer if she is to win an automatic place to represent her country.

The 36-year-old won a bronze medal in the individual women’s contest at the last Olympics in Athens in 2004.

If she makes it to Beijing it will be her fifth Games having competed at Barcelona in 1992, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000.

She practises at Wolverhampton Company of Archers’ ground in Wergs Hall Road but also has to travel to Birmingham every week for training.

Advice

The former primary school teacher undertakes anything up to eight hours training every day including physio, dietry advice and plenty of practice with her 7lb bow in front of the target.

Running with Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club builds her stamina while weight training helps Alison exert 78lb of power to pull back the bow string to shoot an arrow 70 metres or 230ft.

She said: “I went to my first archery contest before I was born, my parents were the ones who got me into it.

“They founded the Long Mynd Archers in Church Stretton when they came out of the army Veterinary Corps.”

Alison’s first memory of shooting saw her sending an arrow soaring over her mother Sue’s washing line when she was just six years old. Sue, aged 57, and Alison’s father Tom, a 60-year-old farrier, still shoot with their club.

Since her first tiny bow, Alison’s 30-year hobby has become her whole life, with Olympic training forcing her to give up teaching youngsters in London and return to the Midlands to be near her clubs in Lilleshall, Long Mynd and the Wolverhampton Company of Archers.

But she said: “Archery is a lot easier than teaching.” Alison is now in the final six British women for this summer’s Olympics but the team can only take three.

If she stays in second place she will be automatically selected but she will not know until after two more trials in June. Like many of her sporting peers Alison has noticed that British excitement about Beijing is surpassed by looking to the London Games in 2012.

“It’s only natural really because we will be the host nation but it is a bit of a shame. I can’t even think about 2012 yet.”

l Are you in with a chance of representing Team GB at the Beijing Olympics? Call 01902 319421.