25 September 2009 - Camilla SOEMOD (DEN): “Don’t want to have any regret”

Camilla SOEMOD (DEN): “Don’t want to have any regret” Copenhagen (DEN) - 25 September 2009  
Camilla SOEMOD from Denmark is a regular presence on the archery circuit since 2006, when she won two European individual titles (indoor and outdoor). She is back in great shape this year, having won the World Cup stage in Shanghai and come close to a medal at the world championships, finishing 4th. We met Camilla in Copenhagen where she will fight for a medal at the Archery World Cup Final 2009.
How did you start archery? I started when I was 10 years old. My dad had been shooting for six months or so and he brought me to the club. He thought it was time I stopped running around at home and terrorizing the house. And so he brought me down to his club and I have been shooting ever since.
Could you tell us about your training? I practice every day. The number of hours depends on my school studies. I hope to get at least two hours of really good practice. I don’t do any direct strength training or mental training. Simply, I make sure that when I’m shooting I train myself mentally and get the best quality of practice. I don’t just shoot arrows, I challenge myself every time. As for the physical preparation, in general I move around a lot, I bike a lot and occasionally take a run. I make sure that when I’m out practicing it’s the best I can do.
What are your expectations for this World Cup Final? I don’t really have any expectations. I want to go out there and do my very best, give it everything I can. That’s all I can do. As long as I go out and I give everything I have in me, I don’t care about the outcome of the competition, even if I end up number 4. I want to leave this tournament with no regrets whatsoever.
What does it feel like to perform in your home country in front of the Prince Frederik? I performed for the prince a couple of time already. I met him a couple of times and he’s really nice. This time the event is going to be really big. It’s the first time that people will be cheering in Danish at a World Cup! It’s going to be fun.
Do you have any goals in your career in general? I don’t have any special goals for my shooting career. I have a general goal in my life: when I grow old and look back at my life, I don’t want to have any “what ifs”, like, what if I did this or that... I don’t want to have any regrets. That is my general goal in life.
What can you say about the evolution of archery since you started competing internationally? Archery has come quite far, especially since the introduction of the World Cup. I am amazed at the really great job done by FITA. When they started all this, I couldn’t imagine how they would make archery something popular, something TV-friendly, but they managed!
What is your opinion of the new rules approved by the FITA Congress last month for compound (the finals shot at 50 metres and the hit-and-miss system)? I like the hit-and-miss system. I don’t know if it’s going to help get rid of the lucky losers. I guess no one will know until we try it out. About the 50 metres, they probably introduced it to make compound different from recurve, in an effort to make it an Olympic sport. I personally don’t really have the need to have compound in the Olympics. But I agree that something had to be changed and I think the hit-and-miss system is a step in the right direction. We will have to see if it works. It’s going to be exciting to try. I never tried it, I only saw one of the tests made in Antalya, but didn’t have a chance to shoot in it. I do hope that they change the design of the target though. Because the one they had in Turkey was not very archer-friendly, maybe it was TV-friendly. But for the archers, the horizontal target meant that if there was wind, you could easily miss the target and lose everything on one arrow.
From your point of view, what are the major changes that the introduction of the World Cup brought to archery? It raised the standard and that’s a great change. Also archery became more spectacular. It’s one of the things that make our sport more interesting for the media. Here for example, we shoot in the middle of the canal, over the water, in the historic part of Copenhagen. It’s something that has never been done before in history. It’s a great challenge and that’s what makes the world Cup so spectacular and fantastic.
Please tell us about your life apart from competitive archery? I’m a student. I’m on my very last semester and then I will have to write my thesis. I will have a master’s degree in business economy and business law. They have put it under one common education. But it’s like two masters because I have to study the entire economic part and the entire law part. It’s been tough and I think it’s one of the hardest educations offered in Denmark. I guess I’m lucky that I don’t need to read that much, I’m never at school and I never open. Despite that I manage to do better than most students. I kind of call it a gift. I don’t want to sound snobbish, but I am lucky to have that gift, and that’s the only reason that I’m able to study and shoot at the level I am.
Do you think it would be possible to make a living out of archery? I don’t think so, especially for a woman. In general, men make more money in sports than women do and that’s a fact. Men receive more prize-money and are better paid by sponsors than women. I don’t think it’s possible to live from archery for the common man, also because in order to be able to live of archery, there would have to be prize-money for more than just the top three archers. In archery the competition is so tough that you cannot podium every time you compete. That limits the possibility of making a living.
Your father has a company that makes traditional Danish candies which are provided to the royal family and will be given here as a prize to the winners. Please tell us more about it. My family has this really old candy company—I’m the fifth generation. It’s a really traditional company where they make candy the old way, not with high-tech machines and chemical additives... Our candies are hand-made with natural products; they are stuffed in the old fashion. It’s a family tradition and the royal family enjoys our candies very much. They gave us the entitlement to official delivery to the royal family. This company is a great part of my life because it’s a part of my family history. I grew up in it and I will not let it die out.
Thank you Camilla and good luck for tomorrow!
Vanahé ANTILLE FITA Communication