At under-21 level, Temiño Mediel shone most brightly indoors, taking silver at the 22024 Nimes Archery Tournament and bronze at the Indoor World Archery Youth Finals. His best outdoor result came alongside Leyre Fernandez Infante at the Lilleshall 2022 European Youth Championships, where the duo won mixed team bronze – but, as the saying goes, it takes two to tango.
Then, on his fourth senior appearance on the Hyundai Archery World Cup, he made his big breakthrough with victory at Shanghai 2024.
Unusually, though, when the opportunity to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games arose, it wasn’t something that immediately tempted him.
“As he got close to the Olympic Games, he realised he wasn’t able to go – and he was the one saying, ‘Okay, I’m not ready for the Games. Please, it’s your decision who goes to the Olympics, but I prefer waiting,’” said Rifaat Chabouk, secretary general of the Spanish archery federation. “That’s not easy at all for a top elite athlete to say, ‘I’m resigning from the Olympic Games because I don’t feel like I’ll perform well.’
“He was doing great, but he had something like target panic – mentally, he just struggled. But as I said, it’s quite rare for someone to do what he did last year – saying, ‘I’m not prepared for the Olympics, just pick another one. I’ll keep working on my mind and technique.’
“The best thing about Andres is that he’s humble and always quietly trying to get better. As I told him, it’s karma – because of those rare, selfless decisions you made last year, you were rewarded this year with the gold medal [in Gwangju].”
From making every archery fan, athlete and coach sit up with his performance in Shanghai, it felt like that promise had vanished in a flash – but there was far more brewing beneath the surface.
You could call it madness for any athlete, in any sport, to voluntarily pull themselves out of Olympic contention. Four years is a long time, and opportunities are never guaranteed.
