FURUKAWA: “I want to show my people how wonderful archery is”

  Takaharu FURUKAWA was the silver medalist at the London Olympic Games. He was defeated in the gold medal final by Korea’s OH Jin Hyek. It was the first individual medal in an international competition for FURUKAWA. As a teenager, he wanted to practice traditional archery (kyudo), but was only able to find an regular archery club who taught more mainstream. The three-time Olympian is competing at the World Cup Final this week and we had the chance to catch up with him during practice.   How did you feel about wining the Olympic silver medal? My target was to finish in the top 8, so it made me extremely happy to win a medal. My only regret is that in the gold medal final, I unfortunately didn’t manage to shoot the scores that I wanted.   How has this medal changed your life? My life has become very busy. I receive numerous calls and demands for interviews, and it’s a pleasure. After my Olympic medal, I still had the World Cup Final in mind and practiced a lot. Archery is a smaller sport in Japan and I hope my medal will inspire more people to take up the sport.   Is it different to shoot at the World Cup Final in your own country? My first competitor IM Dong-Hyun is a very strong archer from Korea. However the audience will be cheering for me and it will give me more power. If I do my best and shoot a good match, it will help show the Japanese people how wonderful archery is.   At 28 years old, are you going to go on as a professional athlete? I will continue to practice and to compete internationally. Hopefully my experience will enhance my results. I want to continue my effort and hope it will bear fruit in the future.   How do you balance your sports career and professional life? I work for the Kinki University. I spend half the week doing clerical work and half as an archery coach for the students. From Monday to Wednesday I work from 9-17 and then practice archery from 18 to 21. From Thursday to Sunday, I practice archery from 9 to 17.   What are your next goals? My target is Rio 2016 and hope to achieve better results there than I did in London. Also, Japan did not medal as a team in London and that will be my goal for Rio as well. But most of all I want to do my best year after year.   World Archery Communication