Below is an August 4, 2024, article reprinted with permission from USA Archery. Brady Ellison is an elk hunter and life member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He joined RMEF in 2012.
In a men’s final fitting for the historic setting, Brady Ellison claimed silver on Sunday following a titanic tussle with Kim Woojin (KOR), to go with the mixed team bronze medal he won with Casey Kaufhold on Friday.
“This is the match I’ve been dreaming of since we first shot against each other in 2009 or 2010,” said Ellison. “It’s the match I’ve always wanted. I think World Archery and the fans across the world have always wanted it and the way we finished that match to go four 10s in a row, the both of us.”
Ellison now has a haul of three silver and two bronze medals from a staggering five Olympic Games, with the latest coming from a breathtaking match in Paris. He has individual silver and bronze, two team silvers and one mixed team bronze.
As the NBC commentary team suggested, Brady Ellison is one of the greatest the sport has ever seen.
“If you had asked me three weeks ago if I’d be up here today, I would have said no way,” added Ellison. “At Pan Ams last year I had a few injuries and I’ve been trying to let it heal and shoot through it and I got in a bad place with it.
“I kind of sucked all year if I’m going to be honest and then Chris (Webster) came in and made some changes. We lengthened out my draw length an inch and 3/8 and started shooting better already in Turkey (World Cup Stage 3).”
Having resumed the individual men’s competition at the 1/8 stage on Sunday morning, Ellison rattled off wins over Berkim Tumer of Turkey (6-2), Kim Je-Deok of Korea (6-0) and Florian Unruh of Germany (7-3).
“We came in here with a different game plan and when we stepped on the practice field I peaked right here and knew if we went in the finals field and I could keep that going I’d be happy no matter what,” Ellison continued.
The gold medal match against Kim Woojin was epic. Ellison won the first set 29-27. The Korean top seed leveled after scores of 28-24. The American responded in set three, taking it 29-27 for a 4-2 lead, only for the scores to be reversed in set four. The pair were locked at 4-4 heading into the fifth set.
Nerves? What nerves? The two giants of the sport locked horns, both shooting maximums. With the crowd going wild, a shootoff was required. Both hit 10s, with the Korean the closer.
“I’m not upset that he barely beat me in that shootoff,” admitted Ellison. “We shot like champions and that’s what it’s all about.”
(Photo credit: World Archery)