19-year old Miranda Leek, a college student at Texas A&M University competing in her first Olympics, fell to Italy’s Pia Lionetta in the round of 16 in Women’s Individual Archery by a score of six sets to four.
Leek looked relaxed, smiling and laughing between shots, but she got very serious when she raised her bow. Leek started shooting at age five, and won silver medals in both individual and team events at the 2011 pan-American Games.
Her opponent, also a student and a member of the Italian Air Force, was a veteran of the 2008 Beijing Olympics who had started her career with a gold in the European Juniors in 2004, following it up with a series of four more golds, two silvers, and two bronzes in Indoor and Outdoor, Individual and Team World Cup events.
Though she lost in sets, Leek only scored two points less than her opponent in cumulative points. Her shooting is strong; with a little consistency, she will be one of the world’s best.
