Richard Andrew "Butch" Johnson (born August 30, 1955 in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 census, making it the second- most populous city in New England after ...

) is an

archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

from

Woodstock, Connecticut Woodstock is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,221 at the 2020 census. History 17th century In the mid-17th century, John Eliot, a Puritan missionary to the Native Americans, established "praying ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. He has competed in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

five times, and was a part of the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have be ...

U.S. team at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

U.S. team in the 2000 Olympics.

2004 Summer Olympics

At the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, he was surprisingly eliminated by

Ron van der Hoff Ron Luitjen Lucia van der Hoff (born 26 March 1978 in Venray, Limburg) is an athlete from the Netherlands, who competes in archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of ...

with 135-145 in the round of 64, placing 52nd overall in men's individual archery. He later placed 4th as a member of the United States team.

2008 Summer Olympics

At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

Johnson finished his ranking round with a total of 653 points. This gave him the 40th seed for the final competition bracket in which he faced

Andrey Abramov Andrey Viktorovich Abramov (russian: Андрей Викторович Абрамов; born July 3, 1984 in Cheboksary, Chuvashia) is an athlete from Russia, who competes in archery. 2008 Summer Olympics At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Ab ...

in the first round. Both scored 109 points in the regular match and they had to go to an extra round. In this extra round Abramov scored 25 points, while Johnson advanced to the second round with 26 points. There he faced eight seeded

Im Dong-Hyun Im Dong-hyun (; ; born 12 May 1986) is a South Korean archer. He competes for the South Korean national team and is a former world number one. He has 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/100 vision in his right eye, meaning he needs to be 1 ...

, who was too strong with 115-106. Together with

Brady Ellison Brady Ellison (born October 27, 1988) is an American archer who competes in recurve archery. He is currently a Resident Athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. He holds the record for the longest continu ...

and

Vic Wunderle Victor Steven "Vic" Wunderle (born March 4, 1976 in Lincoln, Illinois) is an archer from the United States. Personal Wunderle was raised in Mason City, Illinois and is the son of the famous archery coach Terry Wunderle. His passion for archery ...

he also took part in the team event. With his 653 score from the ranking round combined with the 664 of Ellison and the 652 of Wunderle the Americans were in 10th position after the ranking round. In the first round they were not able to win against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by the ...

that won the confrontation by 222-218.

After the Olympics

Today, Butch Johnson has maintained himself as one of the best recurve shooters in the country, has ranked in the top five in the United States and placed sixth in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Amid speculation that he would retire following the Trials, Johnson came back to finish second in the 2012 National Target Championships and won a silver medal in the 2012 Hoyt World Open, second only to number one world ranked archer

References