Simon TERRY

Simon Terry first picked up a bow in his native Scotland before moving down south to England at the age of eight. His original career in the sport was short and sweet. An outstanding junior career brought him Olympic selection for Barcelona 1992 at the age of eighteen and, after qualifying a lowly 20th in the qualifying round of the individual event, went on a run of upset victories that brought him an unexpected bronze medal. In partnership with Steven Hallard and Richard Priestman he repeated the feat in the team event. By the end of 1993 he had walked away disillusioned with the sport and the toll it had taken of his finances. Unemployed at the time of the Barcelona Games he had famously been refused government unemployment benefit for the time spent competing for his country. After thirteen years away from the sport, and inspired by the thought of a home Olympics, he picked up his bow again in 2006 and on his return to international competition helped his national team to a silver medal at the Archery World Cup in Turkey. Selected for a second Olympic Games in 2008 he rose to a career high of second in the world rankings in mid-2009 when he won the individual silver medal at the World Cup. He won a second silver in the team event the following year, when it was held in Terry’s native Scotland, at Edinburgh. Twenty years after making his Olympic début, Terry appeared in his third Games at London in 2012.