Striking Olympic Silver

Since 2004, Taiwan’s national archery teams have qualified to compete in every Olympics, and have won medals three times, including in 2021. Head coach Lin Cheng-hsien says that the most important factor behind Taiwan’s outstanding success in archery—besides the demands the athletes put on themselves, the teamwork, and the positive atmosphere—has been that the men’s and women’s teams are constantly encouraging each other. At the Tokyo Olympics, although the women’s team, whose competition came first, were unsuccessful, they were not downcast, but immediately gave feedback to the men’s team about conditions at the event, which helped the men shoot every arrow more resolutely in their own competition.

Archery starts from the heart

The Olympic archery venue was in Yumenoshima Park, near the ocean, so the wind was quite variable. Moreover, because the Taiwan team had not competed internationally for nearly two years due to Covid-19, this battle was sure to be hard-fought.

Thinking back on their first match, Wei Chun-heng says casually: “We just had to adapt in the moment and do our best.” Although at first he did not have a firm grasp of the wind direction and only hit a seven-point shot, by sticking to his fundamentals he was able to gradually get up to speed. Tang Chih-chun, who was also in a good place mentally, says: “I don’t keep thinking about what I should change after my most recent shot—I treat every shot as if it were my first.” Meanwhile, Deng Yu-cheng, whose expression is always calm and steady, was the first on the team to hit a nine-point shot and kept everybody on an even keel. He relates: “All I remember is that at that moment the wind seemed to be coming from the left. The most important thing was to make sure my mechanics were on point.”

The athletes’ training for Tokyo emphasized their self-confidence and mental state. This is because what counts in elite competition is not only skill, but also the ability to stay calm and focused. The coaching staff routinely gave positive reinforcement when pointing out areas in which the athletes needed to improve, rather than directly criticizing weaknesses. “In this way we instill an impression in their minds, so that their shortcomings will become evident as they train.” If Lin Cheng-hsien notices any issues with an athlete’s mental state during training, he will ask the team’s in-house sports psychologist to take note so he can avoid pressuring the athlete by asking them about it directly.

Chen Jo-yun, team psychologist for the men’s arch­ery team, is always at the range watching the athletes train, and she can perceive their psychological state by observing their facial expressions and changes in their movements. When the archers are done shooting a set of arrows, she will walk with them to the target 70 meters away to retrieve their arrows, and during this stroll she encourages them and gets to know them better. “I also ask them to observe their teammates, because people are quick to see their own weaknesses, but feedback from others can draw their attention to things they do well.”

Train hard, trust yourself

When we ask Lin Cheng-hsien the secret behind Taiwan’s ascendancy in global archery, he says that besides solid training from a young age, “We [the national team] don’t go strictly by the book in our training.” Given this generation of athletes who make heavy demands of themselves, who aim to win medals at every international competition, are very pro-active about pre-event physical training, and even meet to practice archery together at night, the coaching team responds by reminding them to take a break at appropriate times. When they discover that team members are fatigued, they will propose that everyone go out together for iced treats or to see a movie before coming back to practice.

The three members of the men’s team each have their own views about training. Wei Chun-heng says, “Sometimes I will go to the archery range by myself to practice at night, and challenge myself to shoot without lights.” This is because he believes that an archer needs to see the target in his mind. If he doubts himself, he will miss. Deng Yu-cheng says, “Each day in practice we aim to find the ideal angles and posture. On any given day, when you pick up your bow and draw back the first arrow, you will know what parts of your body you should warm up more thoroughly and what you should focus on.” Meanwhile, Tang Chih-chun stresses simulation: “I imagine an opponent who perhaps scores a ten, a ten, and a nine. When it’s my turn to shoot, I strive to get my mechanics right.”

Wei Chun-heng, age 27

Deng Yu-cheng, age 22

Tang Chih-chun, age 20

Enjoying the stress of competition

Archery is different from most sports: when you stand behind the shooting line, you have to compete on your own and calmly deal with all the thoughts and emotions in your mind. During major events like the Olympics, the key to victory is staying focused and controlling your own heartbeat.

Wei Chun-heng explains by drawing on the sports psychology concept of “arousal levels.” Each sport requires a different level of intensity or excitement. For archery, the arousal level should be moderate. Therefore, when you have to deal with stress, “Don’t try to exclude it. Instead you have to think about how to absorb and transform it, and make it part of yourself so that it becomes yours to use. You have to transform stress into intensity!”

As for Tang Chih-chun, in the past whenever he became tense he would lose concentration. But now he understands that he can’t get agitated or impatient, “because in the final stages of a competition everyone has roughly the same scores, but if you keep your head on straight during events you’ll have more positive energy and confidence.” Meanwhile, Deng Yu-cheng, who is virtually expressionless during matches, looks as if he is unaffected by emotions. But once after a competition ended he told team physician Aurea Kuo: “I was so nerv­ous I thought I was going to die, but I can deal with it.” This made Kuo aware that Deng is always working hard to maintain an appropriate level of arousal.

Besides teaching athletes to maintain the right attitude, the team psychologist also instructs them in how to use breathing to adjust their rhythm and use inner dialogue to encourage themselves. This is why Wei often hears Tang saying to himself: “I am the Olympic champion Tang Chih-chun!”

Wei Chun-heng sees every competition as a chance to learn. Any experience can be food for thought in approaching the next competition.

Deng Yu-cheng

Tang Chih-chun

Looking out for each other

The close-knit nature of the men’s archery team helps raise morale during competitions. Team coach Liu Chan-ming says that this was not the first time these three men were on the same team, so they already had some chemistry. Moreover, before their Olympic event, they had already simulated numerous competition scen­arios and practiced shooting in different orders. “When the wind is stronger, Ah-Wei [Wei Chun-heng] goes first. His draw weight is heavier, so he is not so greatly affected by the wind, and then he can relay the information from his shooting to his younger teammates. Yu-cheng is calm and steady, so he goes second. Chih-chun has a faster rhythm, so he can be put in the first position or the third position.”

The coherence and teamwork of the archery squad is known to all at the National Sports Training Center. Liu says with a smile: “Both our men’s and women’s teams like to go out to eat or catch a movie together on days off.”

Auria Kuo still recalls that when she performed acupuncture on Wei before the Tokyo Olympics event, Tang stood off to one side carefully observing the process. Kuo says with a laugh: “When I moved forward, he followed me forward, and when I moved to the back, he followed me back.” It turns out that Tang wanted to memorize the locations of the acupuncture points, so he could give his teammate a massage during competitions to help him relax his muscles, despite the fact that in individual events Wei would become his opponent.

Following the Tokyo Olympics, the three archers took a little time off, then went on to new challenges. Wei competed in the 2021 World Archery Championships, where he won a bronze in the men’s team event. Deng and Tang, meanwhile, respectively won gold and silver medals in the men’s team event at the National Games. Next they will take part in the selection competition to represent Taiwan at the 2022 Asian Games. Although there are only limited spots available, they have always maintained an attitude of “shooting happily and enjoying the competition.” No matter who enters what event, they always cheer each other on. This is because each match is a new beginning, and in archery, ultimately the only enemy is yourself.

Wei Chun-heng is the team’s “older brother.” At the archery range he often gives fist bumps and looks of approval to his younger teammates, Deng Yu-cheng and Tang Chih-chun, for their good shooting.

As budding athletes, Tang Chih-chun (left) and Deng Yu-cheng (right) both made the national team in senior high school.

Coach Liu Chan-ming (right) cares very much about his athletes, both in their training and in their everyday lives. Even if their performance on the archery range is sometimes inconsistent, he still has a great deal of confidence in them.