Jennifer Nichols - United States of America

Jennifer Nichols enters Athens as the most promising American women’s shooter to emerge in recent years. The young star will make her Olympic debut in Athens.

The 20-year-old from Wyoming won the Italian Grand Prix in Rovereto in May, the first major international tournament of the year. She beat a quality field featuring many of the leading archers she will again compete against in Athens, including former world champion Natalia Valeeva of Italy and China’s strong trio of Olympians.

Nichols placed ninth in the individual event and eleventh in the team event at the 2003 world championships in New York. (On the eve of the event, she also took part in an exhibition which featured her shooting a strawberry off a cheesecake by firing an arrow through a New York taxi cab window!)

Her strong world championships result followed a silver medal at the 2003 world indoor championships in Nimes, France, in her first international competition. Such results have seen her move into the top five in the world rankings.

Nichols comes from an archery family – her father bought his five children bows for Christmas when she was 11. Her first competitions, as such, were in the family backyard.