Darrell Pace

Darrell Owen Pace (born October 23, 1956) is a former archer from the United States, who won two individual Olympic and World Championships titles each during his career. In 2011, as part of the World Archery Federation's 80th anniversary celebration, he was declared as by the WAF as "Archer of the Century" ^[1]

Darrell Pace

Personal information
Born	(1956-10-23) October 23, 1956 (age 68) Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Height	5 ft 10+1⁄2 in (179 cm)
Weight	141 lb (64 kg)
Sport
Sport	Archery
Medal record Men's archery Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1976 Montreal Individual 1984 Los Angeles Individual 1988 Seoul Team Pan American Games 1979 San Juan Team 1983 Caracas Individual 1983 Caracas Team 1987 Indianapolis Team 1991 Havana Individual 1991 Havana Individual (70 m) 1979 San Juan Individual 1987 Indianapolis Individual

Career

Three years after taking up the sport, Pace, at the age of 16, became the youngest member of the U. S. team at the archery world championships, where he finished twenty-third.

Pace went on to win four consecutive national archery championships, from 1973 through 1976. He also won the title in 1978 and 1980. He won the world title in 1975 and 1979 and finished second to long-time rival Richard McKinney in 1983.^[2]

After winning an Olympic gold medal in 1976, Pace was selected for the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. He was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead.^[3] In 1984, he took a 13-point lead after the first day of the four-day competition and won an easy victory.^[2]

Pace also competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics, finishing ninth in the individual competition and winning a silver medal in the team event along with McKinney and Jay Barrs.^[2]

Darrell O. Pace Park, located in Hamilton, Ohio, is a 7-acre (2.8 ha) park named in his honor.

In 1974, at the US Nationals in Oxford, Ohio, Pace set his first FITA record of 1291 beating John Williams' record of 1268 shot at the 1972 Olympics. He broke that in 1975 at the Nationals with the first 1300 in history; he got 1316. In 1978, Ferrari from Italy broke that with a 1318. Darrell then shattered that the next year in 1979 with a 1341 in Japan; that record stood for 10 years. All in all Pace held the Total FITA world record for 14 years, raising the record a total of 71 points in 5 years.

References

1. "Sure Shot: Darrell Pace remembers the day he first tried archery", The Hamiltonian (Hamilton, Ohio)
2. Darrell Pace. sports-reference.com
3. Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry. Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.

External links

• USA Archery