Doreen Viola Hansen Wilber (January 8, 1930 – October 19, 2008) was an American

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 mo ...

from Rutland, Iowa.

Biography

At the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Wilber won 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 bee ...

in the women's section of the first modern Olympic archery competition, aged 42. Along with

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

, Wilber led the U.S. to a sweep of archery gold medals in 1972. In the first of two FITA rounds (in which an archer shoots 36 arrows at each of 4 distances), Wilber shot for 1198 points out of a possible 1440. This put her in fourth place at the end of the first half of competition. Her second round score of 1226 was the best score of any archer in either round and was enough to put her well above the competition as well as set a new world record. In the 1969 Outdoor World Championships, Wilber placed 2nd. She was also a member of the 4th place U.S. team. She placed 2nd in the 1971 Outdoor World Championships and was a member of the 3rd place United States team. She died of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

Jefferson, Iowa Jefferson is a city in, and the county seat of Greene County, Iowa, United States, along the Raccoon River, North Raccoon River. The population was 4,182 at the time of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is the home of the Mahanay Me ...

on October 19, 2008. A bronze statue was erected in Jefferson in 2011 in memory of Wilber.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilber, Doreen 1930 births 2008 deaths American female archers Archers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Neurological disease deaths in Iowa Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Olympic gold medalists for the United States in archery People from Jefferson, Iowa Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 21st-century American women