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in foCus
Serenity is the
Source of Strength!
TexT BarBara UrBan
PhoTos DaviD aUSSerhofer, BernD LoSe
Tran s laTion CaroL oBerSChmiDt
It is warm and a little turbulent in
Rembrandt Hall, the indoor arena of
the University of Pretoria Sports Centre,
South Africa. Nervousness is in the air.
Roswitha Lose (54) is participating for
the first time in a world championship
in archery. She is using her new longbow,
made of bamboo with a handle of
olive wood and measuring 1.66 meters
in length. The corresponding arrows are
also made of wood. After registering
at the World Cup, all 261 athletes from
15 countries must show their bow and
their labeled and numbered arrows to
the competition judges, who check to
see if they meet World Cup specifications.
Furthermore, the arrowheads
may be neither too large nor too thick.
Roswitha looks around the hall
for the other five members of the TSV
Lindenberg Archery Club. Suddenly a
signal sounds. She now has exactly
20 seconds to position herself at a
line as one of 60 women athletes
from around the world. Slowly it gets
quiet. She looks at her target, draws
back her longbow, aligns the arrow,
concentrates, corrects the alignment
once again, concentrates again and
then shoots. Noiselessly her arrow
flies 18 meters through the air, hitting
the target with a slapping sound.
Four minutes remain for the archers
to shoot five arrows. Then the whistle
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blows again. The archers step back
and the whole procedure is repeated
with the next group of 60 athletes.
Then another end (a term in archery
meaning the specified number of arrows
shot by archers before the score is
taken and the arrows retrieved) takes
place. Altogether, there are three ends
on the first day.
Each of the thirty target devices
has four targets, and each archer has
exactly 50 centimeters at the starting
line – quite a narrow space. There are
always two archers standing side by side
who shoot at one target device. However,
each has her own target (top left or
top right). Behind them are two other
archers, who then step up to the starting
line and aim at the lower targets (bottom
left or bottom right). Then the archers
run to their targets in fours and note
each other’s hits. Roswitha continues to
compete three days in a row. From end
to end she becomes calmer and more
serene and also more confident in her
marksmanship, which she practices every
week at the TSV Lindenberg club. In a
very close competition with a total of 50
arrows in ten ends, she manages to work
her way up from third to second place in
her age group. “At first I couldn’t believe
it,” she recalled. “It only gradually
dawned on me that I would bring home
silver.”
Roswitha Lose, who works in the
research group of Dr. Iduna Fichtner,
became interested in the ancient shooting
sport more or less by happenstance.
About 20 years ago she attended an
information event and discovered an
archery club. She registered and has
trained twice a week ever since, indoors
in winter and outdoors in summer. Her
motivation is to continually improve and
break her own records. “We regularly
participate in regional competitions to
qualify for the German championship,”
she said. There are not many women
who shoot longbows without a support
device. She can hardly imagine a life
without archery, and as long as she can
hold the bow, she will pursue this sport.
Whoever watches her shoot believes her
immediately. Last year she was not only
Vice World Champion in archery, but also
Athlete of the Year in the Barnim district
of Brandenburg.
In just a few words she sums up
what it takes to be a good archer:
talent, calm and the ability to be
World championship in archery,
Pretoria, South Africa 2011