#Rio2016 | Youth Experience Sets Ingley for Senior Targets
Six years on from getting her first taste of Olympic competition Alice Ingley is set for her shot on the biggest stage of all in Rio.
Ingley first wore green, gold and the Olympic rings at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore where she was the nation’s sole female archery representative.
Now 23, Ingley will again be Australia’s only female competitor in Rio with a series of strong performances seeing her secure her Olympic debut.
“To get the chance to represent Australia at the Olympic Games is beyond anything I could possibly imagine,” said Ingley.
“It is almost the sum of all the hard work and sacrifices made along with the blood, sweat and tears that come with any journey of this nature. It will be an honour and something that should always be cherished.”
Ingley, who relocated from Perth to Brisbane to focus on securing Olympic selection, performed strongly at the selection trials and also claimed the 2016 Australian Open title to give her the confidence boost she needs heading into Rio 2016.
“I am happy with how my form currently is with it being on an upward trend ever since trials began.
“I am confident that it is continuing through to Rio which is what I intended it to be.”
She finished ninth in the individual event and fifth in the team event in Singapore and believes that her experience there will hold her in good stead in Rio.
“I definitely think that having the Youth Olympics experience will help.
“It makes me feel like I won’t be as overwhelmed going into Rio and having experienced the environment with the Village set out and media areas it will definitely help as not many competitions have that element to it.”
The Rio 2016 Games will provide some unique challenges for the athletes with competitors having to shoot off a platform instead of the steady ground while plenty of noise expected at what is the home of Rio’s Carnival parade – the Samb√ɬ≥dromo.
In order to prepare Ingley, along with men’s representatives Taylor Worth, Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack, headed to Taiwan for a training camp earlier in the month.
“Training in Taiwan was fantastic it really helped iron out any things I was worried about going into the Olympics and made me feel like I am as prepared as I possibly can be.
“Having the loud kids there was great preparation. When shooting with big crowds you never have control over what will happen, so being able to know how to deal with the loud noise allows us to adapt to it in competition.”
While the women’s football team play on August 3 in Sao Paolo, Ingley and her archery teammates will be the first Australian athletes to compete in the city of Rio.
They will take to the Sambódromo for the all-important individual ranking round on the day of the Opening Ceremony (August 5). The ranking round determines athletes seedings for the individual knockout matches which begin on August 8.
Australia’s best result in female competition was Terry Donovan’s 9th place finishes at both the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games.
The Aussie men’s team will look to win their first medal in Olympic competition when they begin competition on August 6.
Matt Bartolo
olympics.com.au