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One of the gang American Wunderle wins silver medalLatest: Thursday September 28, 2000 12:09 PM
SYDNEY, Australia (CNNSI.com) -- American Vic Wunderle won a silver medal in the men's individual archery finals Wednesday. Australian Simon Fairweather won the gold.
"Coming into this, I was the only one of us that didn't have an Olympic medal," said Wunderle, of Chula Vista, Calif. Now he does. Butch Johnson and Rod White won gold medals in the 1996 Olympics, but Wunderle entered this Olympics empty-handed. The 1996 individual gold medalist, Justin Huish, was not around to defend his title. The freewheeling archer resigned from the American team earlier this year because of marijuana possession charges. "It's very unfortunate with some of the events that have unfolded," Wunderle said. "But we have been fortunate to have Olympic gold medalists as alternates and teammates." Wunderle was a surprise finalist. "There were definitely people favored over me to do well in this competition," Wunderle said One was South Korea's Oh Kye-moon. Oh had the Olympic record for 12 arrows when he shot 115 in Atlanta and was the bronze medalist behind Huish. Wunderle beat Oh in the quarterfinals, 108-105. Wunderle, 24, trailed at the start of the final round as Fairweather won in windy conditions, 113-106. Fairweather went ahead 28-25 at the end of the first round of three arrows and was never threatened. He shot 10 on 10 of his 12 arrows. The tension appeared to get to him on his final shot. He had to pause, then draw his bow again before making his worst shot of the final round. "Inside (I felt) not too bad, but every time the crowd cheered it was like a cold chill. It was amazing," he said. Fairweather, 31, was the world champion in 1991 but finished 16th at Atlanta. "I had to win one more time so I could retire. So maybe now I can," he said. The South Koreans were poised to dominate the archery competition. They swept all the women's medals and the men took the top three spots in the ranking competition. Yet the top-ranked South Korean, Jang Yong-ho, lost in the round of eight. Oh fell to Wunderle and Kim Chung-tae bowed out against Magnus Petersson. In the semifinals Wunderle edged Petersson 108-107 and Fairweather defeated Wietse van Alten, Netherlands, 112-110. Van Alten took third over Petersson in the bronze-medal match. Wunderle is optimistic about the team competition. "It should be a good combination for the team round, two Olympic gold medalists and a silver medalist. I think we have some potential," Wunderle said. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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