Naomi Folkard

Naomi Folkard
Personal information
Nationality British
Born 18 September 1983 (1983-09-18) (age 33)
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
Education University of Birmingham
Sport
Country United Kingdom
Sport Archery
Event(s)
Updated on 5 September 2016.

Naomi Anne Folkard (born 18 September 1983) is an British archer who has represented Great Britain at four Olympic games. She has also represented Great Britain at the World Archery Championships and the Archery World Cup, and England at the Commonwealth Games.

Following a string of national titles in the early 2000s, Folkard won selection for the British Olympic archery team in 2004. She has since regularly competed in international recurve archery events, including the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics. She is also a prominent competitor in field archery, having won medals at the World Games and the World Field Archery Championships.

Early and personal life

Folkard was born in Leamington Spa on 18 September 1983.[1] She took up archery aged five, becoming a member of the British senior when she was sixteen.[1][2] Both her parents and her brother have taken part in archery competitions. Folkard is also an accomplished musician, playing the violin and the piano since a young age. She is a member of the Birmingham University Orchestra, having studied music at the University of Birmingham as a student,[3][4] competing in the 2004 Olympics shortly after finishing her second year examinations.[2]

Career

Early career

Folkard was British champion in 2000, 2001, and 2003, and competed in the World Student Games in 2003. She was a reserve for Britain's archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.[2] In 2004 she won the UK Indoor Archery Championships in the women's individual recurve category, shortly before qualifying for the Olympics in Athens later that year.[5]

2004 Summer Olympics

Folkard claimed her place as part of Great Britain's archery squad for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens following a shoot-off in Lilleshall, joining Alison Williamson and Helen Palmer as Britain's qualifiers.[6] In Athens she placed 17th in the women's individual ranking round, which determined the seeding for the elimination rounds, ahead of both Williamson and Palmer. She won against Olga Pilipova of Kazakhstan and Mari Piuva of Finland in the first two elimination rounds before being knocked out by Park Sung-Hyun of South Korea, who placed first in the ranking round. Folkard finished the tournament with a final ranking of eleventh.[7]

Folkard and her teammates Williamson and Palmer also competed in the women's team event, losing to India 230 points to 228 in the first elimination stage of the tournament.[8]

2008 Summer Olympics

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Folkhard again competed in both the individual and team events. Together with Alison Williamson and Charlotte Burgess as Great Britain's entry in the team event, they took a surprise second place in the ranking round, being outscored only by eventual gold medallists South Korea.[9] They progressed to the quarter-finals, where they defeated Japan 201-196, setting up a face-off with hosts China in the semi-final. Folkard and her teammates were unable to overcome the Chinese team, losing 208-202 and the a chance to contest the gold medal match, having to settle for a bout against France for the bronze medal. The French team emerged victorious, leaving Folkard, Williamson and Burgess finishing ranked 4th.[10][11]

In the individual competition Folkard ended her ranking round with a total of 651 points, giving her the 8th seed for the first elimination round, just behind teammate Alison Williamson.[12] She defeated Soha Abed Elaal of Egypt and teammate Charlotte Burgess in the first and second rounds before being eliminated by Japan's Nami Hayakawa in the third round.[13]

2012 Summer Olympics

Folkard secured her place as one of three British female archers at the 2012 Olympic games in London at the Great Britain trials held in April 2012 at Lilleshall.[14] At the games, held at Lord's Cricket Ground, she scored 637 in the ranking round of the women's individual event, finishing as the 42nd seed, ahead of teammates Alison Williamson (47th) and Amy Oliver (57th).[15] Folkard was victorious in the first elimination round, defeating Kristina Timofeeva of Russia, but was knocked out in the second round by eventual bronze medallist Mariana Avitia of Mexico.[16]

Folkard, Williamson and Oliver comprised Great Britain's entry in the team event, ranking 11th of 12 nations in the ranking round before losing to Russia in the first round 215-208.[17]

2016 Summer Olympics

Folkard entered her fourth Olympic games as Great Britain's sole female representative in the women's individual competition, holding a world ranking of 86.[18] After being seeded 23rd in the ranking round following a score of 639, she defeated Ika Yuliana Rochmawati of Indonesia, Kaori Kawanaka of Japan, and Ane Marcelle Dos Santos of Brazil in the first three rounds to reach the quarter finals. There she lost to eventual gold medallist Chang Hye-Jin of South Korea, but despite her loss she recorded her best individual Olympic performance, ending the tournament ranked seventh place.[19][20]

Following her defeat Folkard said that Rio 2016 was likely to be her last Olympic games.[21]

Other competitions (2006-14)

Folkard emerged from the 2006 European Indoor Archery Championships a medallist, finishing second and coming away with a silver medal.[22]

In 2007 Folkard won a bronze medal for Great Britain with Alison Williamson and Charlotte Burgess in the women's team event at the 2007 World Archery Championships, defeating the Italian team in the bronze medal match after losing to the South Korean squad in the semi-finals.[23] The trio continued their success later that year at the fourth stage of the 2007 Archery World Cup held in Dover by winning the women's recurve tournament.[24] This was however not enough for Great Britain to advance to the final.

Folkard, Williamson and Burgess' form continued in the Archery World Cup in 2008, winning a gold medal in the team competition in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in April, and a bronze medal in the same event in Boé, France, in June.[25]

In 2009 Folkard achieved a bronze medal in the individual recurve event at the World Games held in Taiwan,[26] but fared less well in the 2009 World Archery Championships, where she lost in the team and individual recurve events in the first and second rounds respectively.[27]

With Edinburgh selected as the host for the final of the 2010 Archery World Cup in September, British athletes qualified as wildcard entries, with Folkard competing in the individual and mixed team events. She was defeated by Ki Bo-bae of South Korea in the individual competition,[28] but along with Simon Terry she achieved a silver medal in the mixed team competition.[29] The Commonwealth Games held the following month in Dehli, India provided her with her next medal opportunity - together with Alison Williamson and Amy Oliver, Folkard won silver medal competing for England in the team recurve competition, losing to Indian team by a single point in the gold medal match.[30]

The 2012 World Field Archery Championships held in Val-d'Isère, France, proved doubly successful for Folkard, winning gold in the team's event for Great Britain and bronze in the individual competition.[31] The following year she achieved the first major title win of her career, winning the gold medal in the field archery event at the World Games in Cali, defeating Germany's Elena Richter.[32] In 2014 she replicated her earlier successes at the World Field Archery Championships, earning bronze medals in both the team and individual competitions.[33]

References

  1. 1 2 "Naomi Folkard". Archery GB. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Marshall, Brian (8 August 2004). "Folkard aims high with strings and bows". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Olympic fitness file: Naomi Folkard". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. 11 January 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  4. ↑ "Naomi Folkard". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "Folkard has Athens in sight". BBC Sport. BBC. 22 March 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Williamson wins Athens spot". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 April 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Women's individual archery results". BBC Sport. BBC. 13 August 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Koreans take 11th title". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 August 2004. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Rutherford, Peter (9 August 2008). "Business as usual for South Korean archers". Reuters. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Butler, Eddie (11 August 2008). "Olympics: Korean women are bullseye-brilliant but French bronze leaves Williamson in tears". The Guardian. London: Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "2008 Summer Olympics Results - Archery". ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Record for Park as Brits impress". BBC Sport. BBC. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  13. ↑ "2008 Summer Olympics Results - Archery". ESPN. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  14. ↑ "London 2012: Quartet seal GB Olympic archery spots". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 April 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  15. ↑ "Archery: Results & Schedules". NBC Olympics. NBC Universal. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Winch, Jessica (31 July 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Alison Williamson and Naomi Folkard crash out of the archery". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  17. ↑ Aldred, Tanya (29 July 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Great Britain's Naomi Folkard, Amy Oliver and Alison Williamson out of team archery". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  18. ↑ "Rio 2016 Olympics: How will Team GB archery prospects fare?". The Daily Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  19. ↑ "Rio 2016 - Archery: Women's Individual Results". BBC Sport. BBC. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  20. ↑ "Rio Olympics 2016: Hyejin Chang wins archery gold for South Korea". BBC Sport. BBC. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  21. ↑ Carpenter, Steve (12 August 2016). "Naomi Folkard hangs up her arrows after top eight finish at Rio Olympics". Leamington Observer. Bullivant Media Ltd. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  22. ↑ "Folkard claims silver medal glory". BBC Sport. BBC. 19 March 2006. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  23. ↑ "GB teams secure silver and bronze". BBC Sport. BBC. 14 July 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  24. ↑ "British women take World Cup gold". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 August 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  25. ↑ "British trio win World Cup bronze". BBC Sport. BBC. 28 June 2008. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  26. ↑ "ArcheryGB Yearbook 2010 - Spring 2010" (PDF). ArcheryGB. p. 6. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  27. ↑ "British archers bow out at Worlds". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 September 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  28. ↑ Hope, Nick (19 September 2010). World Cup archery hits Edinburgh (video). BBC Sport. BBC. 4:40 minutes in. Retrieved 5 September 2016.(United Kingdom only)
  29. ↑ "ArcheryGB Yearbook 2011" (PDF). ArcheryGB. p. 7. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  30. ↑ "Commonwealth Games 2010: England win archery silver". BBC Sport. BBC. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  31. ↑ "Archery: Naomi Folkard wins gold and bronze at the World Field Archery Championships". Coventry Telegraph. Trinity Mirror plc. 23 August 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  32. ↑ Percival, Jane (1 August 2013). "Giuseppe SEIMANDI wins his second World Games gold". World Archery. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  33. ↑ "Leamington archer won two medals for GB at World Field Archery Championships". Coventry Telegraph. Trinity Mirror plc. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
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