LONDON —
On the final arrow, the U.S. lost Olympic gold in men’s team archery.
No matter — the Americans were still thrilled to win the first U.S. medal at the London Games.
Italy topped the trio of Brady Ellison, Jacob Wukie and Jake Kaminski by one point Saturday for the team gold, while South Korea took the bronze.
“I wasn’t disappointed that we got a silver. I was, on the inside, very, very ecstatic that we became Olympic medalists,” Ellison said. “The more it’s around my neck, I mean, this thing has some weight to it. It sets in. We are Olympic medalists — and it doesn’t matter the color.”
Michele Frangilli, Marco Galiazzo and Mauro Nespoli hugged and raised their hands in celebration after the final arrow from Frangilli beat the Americans 219-218 at Lord’s Cricket Ground. The gold was Italy’s first ever in the event.
Frangilli, who was part of a team bronze in 1996 and won silver in Sydney four years later, called the final a “very hard-fought” match.
“I have been chasing this medal for 16 years,” he said through a translator.
“With the last arrow that hit, I think it was my dream.”
The Americans said that even though they still have individual competition remaining, they came to London focused on the team competition, simply because they thought sharing in the experience of winning a medal would be more powerful to the group than taking one individually.
“We’ve worked so hard prior to this to build a strong team and to train as a team,” Wukie said. “And so, obviously, it paid off.”
And the significance of being the first American medalists at the 2012 Games was not lost on them.
“If that’s all we’re known for for the rest of our lives … I think we’ll all be pretty proud of that,” Ellison said.
