Inside Rio with Brady Ellison, Team USA

As the Games draw nearer, the excitement of watching the best athletes in the world grows. Several American athletes are poised for excellent performances – including Brady Ellison, a recurve archer from Arizona. Ellison will be representing America in his third Olympic Games: he competed in Beijing in 2008 and was part of the team to receive silver at the 2012 Games in London.

“I started shooting when I was very young,” Ellison recalled. “I still remember opening a Christmas present from my dad and it being a Pse spider compound. That was my first real bow and I have been hooked ever since.” Ellison grew up hunting, and bagged a bear at age 11. “I have several ‘trophies,’ but hunting is not about the trophy,” he said. “It’s about the hunt, the challenge, being outside and trying to outsmart something that has way better senses than we do.”

From hunting, Ellison transitioned to competitive archery in 2002. “It’s really the same thing on the simplest of levels. It’s just me and my bow trying to make the best shot I can make,” he explained. “Whether that shot is to take a animal or shoot a ten on a target, they both have to be perfect.” Ellison began shooting with a compound bow, which uses a pulley system to generate more power without using as much strength.

He made the switch after breaking a string on his compound bow at a training camp. Since he didn’t have a bow to shoot, he borrowed his friend’s recurve – and the rest is history. “The transition for me was fortunately a quick and some what painless one,” he recalled. “There are lots of differences between the two physically and and in technique, but mentally it’s the same approach, so once the technique was learned I was off and rolling.”

Ellison’s dedication to his sport is awe-inspiring. He was affected by Perthes disease as a child, a disorder that affects the head of the femur, and put off surgery for nine months so that he could compete in the Beijing Olympics. He fractured his right hand in 2013 (and yes, Ellison is right-handed!), but continued to compete in four tournaments with a broken hand ­­- and even brought home a gold medal while wearing a cast. When asked about what gives him his dedication and perseverance, his answer was a true example of his tenacity and good spirits. “Cowboy up!” he exclaimed. “If you can still shoot, then shoot: don’t complain, just grit your teeth and push through. You do what you have to do to win or pay bills or compete. I don’t just give up if life gets hard, I just put a helmet on and push through it.”

The Olympic Games stand out as a high point in Ellison’s memory. “Competing at the games is very special. It’s the highest, most prestigious event in the world, and being at that level and competing in that event is hard to put into words,” he mused. “And the games in itself is a great memory but standing on the podium is a very special feeling.”

In addition to this year’s Games, 2016 has held another fond memory for Ellison: in April, he married Slovenian archer Toja Cerne-Ellison. While they don’t compete against each other, they often have the same schedule. “We shoot a lot of events together, actually. All the World Cups and really almost everything we do together, training and competing,” Ellison explained. “Winning together is always awesome,” he added with a grin.

Photo courtesy USA Archery.