Para-archer Kliem is eliminated: Due to the monsoon

It was raining. So much so that the roof of the Invalides in Paris was barely visible when Flora Kliem, the only German archer who had qualified for the Paralympics in Paris, entered the field on Tuesday. With a pink fisherman’s hat on her head and to the sounds of Tokio Hotel’s “Durch den Monsun”, the athlete, whose thigh amputation occurred just one and a half years ago, grinned into the stadium camera. At the end of the day, the 28-year-old Berliner took ninth place.

In the qualification for the individual recurve competition last Thursday, Kliem achieved a solid eleventh place, but this result did not allow her to advance straight into the round of 16. First she had to go into the intermediate round on Tuesday, where she met Peruvian Daniela Cecilia Campos Marzano. The sixth-ranked athlete in the world rankings gave away too many of her shots over the 70-meter distance to the target, which Kliem was able to take advantage of. The German emerged from the match as the clear winner with a score of 6:2.

Less than half an hour later, the round of 16 was already underway. The rain had now eased somewhat and the atmosphere in the stands made the overcast sky damp again. Kliem met the Slovenian Ziva Lavrinc. And before the first arrow, it became quiet in the Invalides Park so as not to disturb the athletes’ concentration. Only the cry of “I love you, Flora” from a French school class rang out across the field and made everyone smile.

Kliem did not let this bother her and shot a strong first set with 27 rings. This initially put her ahead of Lavrinc. In the next two rounds, however, the Slovenian became more confident and was able to win each round with only one ring difference to Kliem. It was a competition on equal terms, and the aspiring primary school teacher Kliem was able to win the fourth set again, also with just one point. Now it was time for the next round.

Disappointment written on the face

Lavrinc took the lead, a little weaker than in the previous rounds – Kliem’s ​​victory now seemed within reach. Her last arrow would decide how the round of 16 would end. The Göttingen native took a deep breath and the 30 seconds she had to release the arrow had almost passed when it landed on the target. But Kliem only hit the 5th ring and thus remained one point behind the Slovenian, who ultimately moved into the quarterfinals with 19:18.

Flora Kliem, who is taking part in the Paralympics for the first time, has disappointment written all over her face. She congratulated her competitor and her coach immediately after the decision – the archery world is small, everyone knows each other and is good friends, Kliem said afterwards.

Despite the narrow defeat, she was able to take something positive from her competition: “I’m happy that I was still able to show what I can do.” The 27 rings from the first round of the round of 16 were “a great performance” and a huge improvement on her first match. She just needs to learn to control her excitement a little more. “I lost my nerve at the end because I knew how many rings I needed – and I had a little twitch of fear just before the last arrow,” Kliem admitted.

But of course the disappointment cannot be completely dismissed. The athlete was particularly annoyed by the “dangling” ninth place, because in many competitions prior to the Games she had almost always finished ninth – and had aimed for at least eighth place for the Paralympics. “Of course the disappointment is there, simply because it was so close.” “One arrow should have landed better,” said Kliem. “Nevertheless, you don’t have to be ashamed of being ninth in the world. I won a match against the world number six today and have nothing to hide.”

Kliem was also infected by the atmosphere during the Paralympics. The backdrop of the competitions was beautiful and she had recently received an incredible amount of support, for which she was very grateful: “I would rather celebrate a defeat with friends than celebrate a medal alone.” The experience of taking part in the Paralympics alone will help her to progress. Flora Kliem now knows what she is letting herself in for and asked the most important question herself: “If I can improve so much in half an hour, what will be possible in four years?”