Tshering Choden (archer)

Tshering Choden (born 1 January 1979 or 6 July 1980^[1]: 4) is an archer from Bhutan who competed at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

Choden was born in Trashigang, Bhutan.^[2] Having excelled at sports in school, in 1998 Choden was encouraged to try archery by her brother, who was a member of the Olympic team.^[3]

Choden entered the 2004 Summer Olympics with a world ranking of 176.^[1]: 4 She was one of two Bhutanese athletes taking part in the Games, the other being with fellow archer Tashi Peljor,^[4] and was selected as Bhutan's flagbearer for the Games' opening ceremony.^[5] Choden began the women's individual event with fifty-fourth place in the preliminary 72-arrow ranking round, scoring 600 points from 720.^[1]: 7 She delivered a surprise result in the opening elimination round with victory over China's Lin Sang by a margin of three points,^[6] becoming the first Bhutanese archer ever to win a match at the Olympics.^[5] Choden faced India's Reena Kumari in the second round, the pair posting identical scores of 134 points over the regulation eighteen arrows. On the subsequent tie-breaking arrow Kumari outscored Choden by seven points to four.^[4] Choden blamed her nerves for shooting so low.^[7]

Choden retired from archery in 2005 but returned to the sport as a coach in 2007.^[8] She coached the only Bhutanese archer at the 2012 Olympic Games, Sherab Zam.^[8][9]

She appeared in the 2004 Arte documentary Die Bogenschützin von Bhutan.^[10]