British teen archer inspired by Disney movie holds back tears after team exit

Teenage archer Penny Healey admitted that she was struggling to hold in the tears after the British women’s archery team was knocked out of the Paris Games by Germany.

The 19-year-old, who was inspired to take up the sport after watching the Disney-Pixar film Brave, said there had been some early nerves during the tie but insisted she would pick herself up for the individual event on Thursday.

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It was the consistency of the world champion German team that did for the hopes of Healey and her teammates Megan Havers, 16, and Bryony Pitman, 27, who had raised their game after a poor start.

Healey, who reached the top of the world rankings last year with two gold medals at the European Games in Krakow, said it had taken a few shots for her to settle into the event.

“I think the first two shots were kind of just being a bit shocked and like, nervous in the way that I was actually here shooting. Once I like realised, yeah, I’m here, then I started putting in 10s again. [But] the Germans are a really good team.” She added: “I’m trying not to cry right now.”

The British team’s elimination-round knockout on Paris’s Esplanade des Invalides leaves Healey to focus on a tie with Jeon Hun-young from South Korea, a former World Cup gold medallist.

Healey, from Telford in Shropshire, said that she would spend the next few days with her boyfriend and family but “be ready” to chase her dream of being only the second female British archer to win an Olympic medal since the 1908 Games in London. “I really liked it actually, having those nerves that I tell myself is excitement,” she said.

Pitman, from Brighton, said she would have a day off before focusing on her preparations for the individual event. “In a match like that when the Germans were really in form, you can’t afford as many mistakes,” she said.

Havers, who had to complete her GCSEs this summer despite being picked for the Games, said she had loved the atmosphere in the open-air arena.

She said: “I started off pretty low and right, I think I was right consecutively for the whole of the match. In myself I felt very nervous to come on to here, being my first Olympics and everything. I know I could have shot better, but it’s a taster for what my individuals will be. I feel prepared for my individuals now.”