- Wietse van Alten
Wietse Cornelis van Alten (born
September 24 ,1978 ) is an archer from theNetherlands . Van Alten was born inZaandam , in the municipality ofZaanstad . He has competed in archery since the age of seven.Van Alten's first major international competition was the 1999
World Target Competition . He placed 8th there, earning a spot on the Olympic team.In the
2000 Summer Olympics inSydney , van Alten lost toSimon Fairweather ofAustralia in the semifinals, but rebounded with the highest score of the tournament for a 12-arrow match by scoring 114 in the bronze medal match to defeatMagnus Petersson ofSweden and win thebronze medal . The Netherlands team, of which he was a member, placed 9th in the men's team competition.After suffering an elbow injury which required surgery in 2001, van Alten returned to success in competition in 2003 when he placed 6th in the World Target Competition held in New York,
United States .Van Alten competed at the
2004 Summer Olympics in men's individual archery, trying to defend his bronze medal. His score in the 72-arrow ranking round was 661, giving him a starting rank of 14th. He won his first match 152-151 againstRicardo Merlos ofEl Salvador , advancing to the round of 32. In the second round of elimination, he was defeated byIlario di Buo ofItaly 164-160. His final rank was 27th overall.Van Alten was also a member of the Netherlands' 5th-place men's archery team at the 2004 Summer Olympics, along with
Pieter Custers andRon van der Hoff .External links
* [http://www.wietsevanalten.nl/en/ Personal website]
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