Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Man with no arms qualifies for US Olympic Archery Team

Matt Stutzman, a young man in his late twenties, was born with no arms. He has never let his handicap slow him down, and can do most things as good or better than a person with arms. Matt does everything with his feet. Eat, drive a car, ride a motorcycle. You won’t find a handicap sticker on Matt’s car, nor is his car adapted for a person with no arms.



He purposely challenges himself to do any and everything a “normal” person can do. Matt Stutzman has now qualified for the National US Olympic team in archery. Not the Paralympics. The Olympic Team. In qualifying for the team, he had the highest score for people shooting that day. Out of 30 people testing, three made the team, and Matt had the highest score.

Physically and mentally, Matt may have an advantage in archery because of his handicap. He uses his legs and feet, which have more muscle mass than arms and hands. Therefore, he can hold a compound bow steadier and longer, which is an asset, especially if there’s a cross wind. His mental advantage comes from years of unbelievable determination.


YouTube link.

In July, Matt will be going to Italy for team trials. If he qualifies there, and he is confident he will, then it’s off to London in 2012 for the Summer Olympics. Matt’s goal is a Gold Medal. He is confident he will win The Gold because the target at the Olympics is larger and closer than what he practices with. Piece of cake for Matt.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've just been on his website and it says that it has been incorrectly reported that he is going to make the full Olympic team; he has been selected for the paralympic team. Even so, still amazing!

arbroath said...

Oh, I'd not noticed that.

Thanks for pointing it out.

cath said...

The (incorrect) news article says "Not the Special Olympics. The Olympic team." I suspect that maybe the reporter had confused the Special Olympics (a sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities) with the Paralympics, and when Matt corrected him ("No, not the Special Olympics!"), one confusion was replaced with another.