STUTZMAN Matt

Classification
Open (worldarchery.org, 04 Mar 2020)

Type of Impairment
Limb deficiency (Athlete, 30 Aug 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Congenital (Athlete, 30 Aug 2016)

Impairment Details
He was born without arms. (archery360.com, 07 Oct 2015)

General
LOSING WEIGHT
He was disappointed with his performance at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he was unable to progress past the round of 16 after winning silver at the 2012 Games in London. As a result he decided to lose weight in preparation for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. "In Rio, I weighed 103 kilograms. I was overweight, so for this Games I've focused on making sure I was healthy. I've lost like 27 kilograms and I've been able to shoot for longer periods of time without being winded, and my hip doesn't hurt any more. Physically I feel better, which gives me more confidence. When you're shooting at something that's really far away, small confidence is very important. I'm hoping the result is better [than in 2016], but I feel like it can be if I just remember my game." He also blames a cracked arrow for his performance in Rio, and says he checks his equipment more closely and more often. "That arrow [in Rio in 2016] was special because I was able to learn so much from it. I didn't really learn that much from my medals because when you're doing well you think you have it figured out, but it's when things go wrong is when you learn your lessons to make you better." (bbc.com, 2020; tokyo2020.org, 23 Jan 2020)

AIMING WITHOUT ARMS
He had to devise a way to compete in archery without having arms, so he learned how to use other parts of his body to fire arrows. He uses his left foot to place the arrow while holding the bow with his right foot. Then he pulls the string of the bow, with the arrow, back with a contraption attached to his right shoulder. Finally, he moves his jaw to trigger the contraption and release the arrow. He also takes part in car racing, using one foot to drive and the other on the pedals. "People ask me how I taught myself to eat and stuff, and I don't remember because obviously at two years old I was already holding a fork in my foot. So my brain just knew how it was going to have to do that stuff before I realised that I had no arms. Probably within a couple of weeks of getting a bow, I knew what I was supposed to do with my life. Cars and archery are very similar, as in a car just wants to be driven and it doesn't care how it's drove. A bow wants to be shot, it doesn't care how it's shot. That's why I love both of those sports." (bbc.com, 2020; outsideonline.com, 10 Sep 2012)

DOCUMENTARY
In 2020 he appeared in a documentary film about the Paralympic Games called 'Rising Phoenix'. "I've done documentaries and stuff like that in the past. But with this one, they really allowed me to just be me. If I wanted to be funny, I could be funny. If I wanted to do something specific, they were really open in showing the world who Matt Stutzman is." (tokyo2020.org, 05 Sep 2020)