Matthew Gray (archer)

Matthew Gray
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Sport
Country Australia
Sport Archery

Matthew Gray is an Australian archer. His day job is being a water policeman. He has participated in three Olympic Games and won a gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Personal

Gray is a water policeman.[1][2][3][4][5] He is from Port Stephens, New South Wales.[2][6] He is married, 47, and his wife is a school teacher.[6] He has two daughters.[1] He has a nursing degree.[3] While training for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he was also doing shift work at John James Hospital in Canberra.[3]

Archery

Gray competes in archery. His father bought him his first bow at a garage sale,[4] and he has been competing in archery for over thirty years.[1] He attributed becoming a cop with making him more aggressive as a competitor.[3] He was an Australian Institute of Sport archery scholarship holder.[7]

Gray has won several medals. At the 1988 World Field Championships in Bolzano, Italy, he won a bronze medal in the junior men's recurve event.[8] At the 1992 World Field Championships in Margraten, Netherlands, he was part of the Australian gold medal winning men's team alongside Clint Freeman and Tony Pitt Lancaster.[8] He won a bronze medal in the men's recurve event at the 1994 World Field Championships in Vertus, France.[8] He won a gold in the men's recurve event at the 1998 European Grand Prix in Czech Republic. His teammates included Simon Fairweather, and Scott Hunter-Russell.[8] In 1999, he won a team gold medal at the world indoor championships.[9] At the 2008 World Cup in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic, he was part of the Australian silver medal winning recurve team that.[8]

In March 2003, he was ranked the fourth best male Australian archer in recurve, ahead of Robert Turner. That month, he had 2520 points.[10] In 2010, he participated in World Cup competitions in Croatia, Turkey and China.[5] He attended a national team training camp in Canberra in September 2011.[11] He attended a national team training camp in Canberra in March 2012.[11] At the 2012 National Target Archery Championships, he finished fourth as a member of ANSW.[12]

In preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, he trained in his garage.[1] He represented Australia at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[1][3][13][14][15] He competed in the men's recurve archery team event where he took home a gold medal with a team score of 219, defeating Malaysia who were ranked third in the world at the time and had an event score of 212.[3][13][14][15] He also competed in the individual event on the final day of the competition. In the quarter finals, he went up against Chu Sian Cheng.[16] At the Games, he was coached by Simon Fairweather.[1] He was Australia's oldest competitor at the Games.[3] In 2010, he was hoping his Commonwealth Games experiences would prepare him for Olympic selection for 2012 in London.[1]

He has participated in three Olympic Games in the archery event.[4] He represented Australia in archery at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1][2] As a thirty-five-year-old, he represented Australia in archery at the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1][2][6] He competed in both the team and individual events.[17] Children in his wife's class cheered for him at the Games and he kept in touch with the class during the Games.[6] Going into the knock out stage in the team competition, Australia was ranked ninth.[6] In one of the early rounds of the 2008 Games, he lost to Chu Sian Cheng of Malaysia.[18] In September 2011, he was named to the Australian archery shadow Olympic team.[11] In October 2011, he participated in a 2012 Summer Olympics test event in London at the Lord's cricket ground.[19] In January 2012, he represented Australia at the 2012 Oceania Olympic qualifying event in New Zealand.[20] In March at the 2012 Olympic Games Nomination Shoot Results, he finished fourth with a score of 2587.[21]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Elder statesman leads team to gold". The Age. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Allen, Rod (19 July 2008). "Archery – Sports – Olympics". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. Retrieved 26 March 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Gray matter in Aussie archery – The Times of India". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 10 October 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "New, old archers bound for Delhi – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 13 August 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Gardiner, James (11 October 2010). "Gray brings home gold – Local News – Sport – Other – Newcastle Herald". Theherald.com.au. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 "Archery – Sports – Olympics". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  7. ↑ "Olympic Games : Australian Institute of Sport : Australian Sports Commission". Australian Institute of Sport. 9 January 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 "Archery Australia". Archery Australia. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  9. ↑ "Commonwealth Games English archer Danielle targets CGames gold". Channel NewsAsia. 2 October 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
  10. ↑ "National Ranking List, March 2003". Australian Archer (Panania, New South Wales: Australian Archery) 10: 29. March 2003. Print Post Publication no. PP636447/001.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Warhurst, Lucy (5 September 2011). "Archery Australia High Performance Program Update". Archery Australia. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "2012 National Target Archery Championships" (PDF). Tuggernong, Australian Capital Territory: Archery Australia. March 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Australia wins archery gold". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "How the Aussies fared on Oct 8". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Golden Aussies back archery's future – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  16. ↑ "Archers aim to end Games on a high". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 10 October 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  17. ↑ "Kim leads archery hopes for Beijing". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 21 February 2008. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "Archers on target early for Australia – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Abc.net.au. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  19. ↑ "Aussie archers test out venue for 2012 Olympic Games". Melbourne, Australia: Herald Sun. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2012.
  20. ↑ "Archers bang on target". Melbourne, Victoria: The Age. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
  21. ↑ "Archery Australia". Archery.org.au. Retrieved 6 June 2012.