Eric Christopher Bennett (born 4 November 1973) is an is an American paralympic archer who competes in recurve

archery 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 ...

. He is a four-time Paralympian, having represented the United States at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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, and

2020 Paralympic Games The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paralymp ...

. Additionally he is a two-time World Para Archery Champion and a four-time U.S. national champion.

Personal life

Bennet began learning archery at the age of 7. He lost his right arm above the elbow in a car accident caused by a drunk driver when he was 15 years old. Bennett learned to shoot with only one arm. He joined the U.S. national team in 2007, qualifying for his first

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...

in Beijing the following year. Bennett is the former physics teacher of Olympic archer Brady Ellison.

Career

Paralympics

Bennett made his Paralympic debut at the

2008 Paralympic Games The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It wa ...

in Beijing. He lost to

John Stubbs John Stubbs (or Stubbe) (c. 1544 – after 25 September 1589) was an English pamphleteer, political commentator and sketch artist during the Elizabethan era. He was born in the County of Norfolk, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. ...

, who would go on to win the gold medal, in the round of 16. At the

2012 Paralympic Games The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

Bennett made it all the way to the bronze medal match, ultimately losing to Mikhail Oyun. In the summer of 2015, Bennett was selected to the U.S. archery team for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, making this his third Paralympics. He made it to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual silver-medalist Hanreuchai Netsiri. At the

Bennett lost in the round of 16 to Zhao Lixue who would go on to win the silver medal.

References

Paralympic archers for the United States Archers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Archers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Living people American male archers American amputees 1973 births Medalists at the 2015 Parapan American Games Medalists at the 2023 Parapan American Games Archers at the 2015 Parapan American Games Archers at the 2023 Parapan American Games Sportspeople from Maricopa County, Arizona 21st-century American sportsmen {{US-archery-bio-stub