Stutzman crowns his career with a longed-for Paralympics gold after two shoot-offs

[Music] startsman crowns his career with a laun for par Olympics gold after two shoot offs after years of attempts Matt stutsman became the paralympic champion the famous armless Archer with stood stood two shoot offs on route to the final and beat the top seed I and leang to reach gold on Sunday at the Paris 2024 Paro Olympics those were the best matches of my life in front of TV he claimed honestly I've shot a couple of 150 seconds at home but yes for sure the best matches you know best matches of my life you don't get pressure at home you don't get the best in the world at home you don't get an 8,000 Stadium full of people at home so yeah without a doubt the best I've ever shot in front of his family and a huge crowd he showed his top archery each duel was meaningful dramatic and even symbolic it's definitely a book story and I'll have more time to process it after a couple of days but yes it is I don't think I could script it any better he said the story he wrote isn't short of anything Matt opened his campaign on Sunday shooting against finland's Jerry forberg in a rematch of the London 2012 final this time the 41-year-old armless Archer prevailed in a shoot off he clustered his arrows straight into the middle of the target the armless Archer was Paving his way towards the moment of his lifetime he won against Nathan McQueen by one and met China's usza in the semi-final another shoot off was needed Matt shot at 10 to zaho nine he already bagged his second par Olympic medal the crowd loved him and he loved the crowd in the final he produced almost a perfect performance winning over top Contender eyes in Lang 149 d48 when he shot his last Arrow I knew I was going to hit a 10 Matt claimed and he did he shot a 10 to clinch the title I just don't know that little birdie said hey you're here now it's your time you've been practicing sing it forever you got your family here to watch the crowd cheered and he celebrated in his manner jumping shouting running across the stage 2 hours earlier he was nearly out but his last Arrow got upgraded from a 9 to a 10 to set a shoot off in the last 4 years I never thought once about winning a gold medal he said it was about having fun and making memories it's a pretty good memory yeah Matt smiled having a glimpse of the metal around his neck the family witnessed him reaching the top and Hollywood star Jackie Chan described him as amazing everything aligned to make Matt's farewell Paralympics memorable memories were what he desired when I first walked out for my first match I really had to fight back the tears of just being able to perform in in front of my family and having them cheer knowing they had my back no matter what happened I didn't want to add that pressure of winning a medal I wanted to come here and enjoy Paris at my last games with my family and the memories are what drove me to practice it wasn't because I was going here to win a medal he claimed he collected the best memories of his life and a gold medal which made him emotional while while standing on the podium and listening to the national anthem I couldn't believe I was there I couldn't believe that the mental preparations and having my family worked out and I couldn't believe I beat Chinese archers because they were so strong on Sunday Matt completed his career he built himself a monument but his legacy is far broader than the medal reached in Paris there are more Harless archers involved in this sport now you can take away all my medals and I wouldn't care because that would be my medal statsman said do you know how many people are here shooting and feeling what I felt when I first started shooting it's not about winning the medals it's about the fact that they're competing against people they're winning they're getting this feeling of joy and excitement silver and bronze went to a and leang and yaa of China competition in Paris continues with W1 in compound mix team elimination and medal matches