Athlete of the week: Khatuna LORIG (USA)

 
  LORIG won a bronze medal in the team competition for the Unified Team of the former Soviet Union at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. When the Soviet Union dissolved she competed for her native country Georgia at the 1996 Olympic Games and in the 2000 Olympic Games. She made the decision to move to the United States and competed for the USA at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she finished 5th individually.   LORIG’s son, Levani, is a competitive recurve archer in the Junior division. LORIG said he was inspired in 2008 when, “…he saw the beauty of the Olympics.” Levani is following in his mother’s footsteps and LORIG hopes the two of them can compete together at the 2016 Olympic Games. At that time, she will be 42 years old (born on January 1st 1974)!   Recently LORIG has received national attention for coaching Jennifer LAWRENCE for her leading role in The Hunger Games movie.    LORIG has made the 2012 Olympic team for USA. However team USA has only qualified one women’s spot for the 2012 Olympic Games (this place goes to Miranda LEEK). So the last chance to qualify a full team and therefore for LORIG to be at the London Games is at the World Cup in Ogden, USA.   In your 27 years of archery experience how have you seen the sport evolve? I’ve seen the countries come more close to each other. I can see this one big happy environment during archery competitions.   These competitions used to be the European Grand Prix. Switching form the Grand Prix to the World Cup raised the competitions to a new level. It’s so much more noticeable now because of the World Cup and its event concept.   How do you feel The Hunger Games have helped your career and archery in America? I hope The Hunger Games helps my career because coaching is something that I want to do for a long time.   I think it helped archery big time. I know around the country kids want to try archery because of movies like The Hunger Games and Brave. It’s the coolest sport in the world right now.   How do you feel about your chances of qualifying the reaming two Olympic spots for team USA? I think this is the best team. We’ve been getting ready all year and motivating ourselves. Right now is the time when we all go out there and one by one each arrow each time we just do your job. I trust my team, they’re great. So we just have to go out there stay positive and shoot strong.   I can’t wait for Thursday (redaction note: day of the team olympic qualifications), bring it on lets do this.   What is your future in archery? I’m going to keep shooting and keep trying for Olympic spots. I hope my son gets so good and we can join the 2016 team together.   Coaching is something that I would like to do. I would like to share my 27 years of experience.    Biography Extract:  Khatuna LORIG (USA) – Born on 1 January 1974  2nd Team XVI Pan American Games Guadalajara 2011 1st Mixed Team Archery World Cup Stage 4 Shanghai 2011 2nd Team Archery World Cup Stage 2 Antalya 2011 1st Individual Arizona Cup 2011 1st Team Arizona Cup 2011 1st Mixed Team Pan American Chpts Guadalajara 2010 2nd Team Pan American Chpts Guadalajara 2010 3rd Individual Pan American Chpts Guadalajara 2010 5th Individual Olympic Games Beijing 2008 5th Individual World Championships Riom 1999 3rd Team Olympic Games Barcelona 1992   Find more information on Khatuna LORIG (and all other archers) on the World Archery website.   Scott EINSMANN World Archery Communication