‘I will never be forgotten’: Larrikin Aussie archer turns Paris giant-killer

Paris: Australian archer Taymon Kenton-Smith may not have won a medal, but he sure won the Paris crowd.

As he made his way up the ladder of the recurve open competition at the Paralympics on Wednesday (Paris time), Kenton-Smith managed to knock out the world ranked number one in his category, Mexico’s Samuel Molina.

The 29-year-old Queenslander also took out the world number four and seven. Kenton-Smith is ranked 21.

The larger-than-life archer brought a taste of Aussie larrikinism to the historic Parisian venue, the Esplanade des Invalides.

He sported green and gold hair, a stuffed kangaroo and the feather of a wedge-tailed eagle – Australia’s largest bird of prey – tucked into his bucket hat.

Eager to pump up the audience between rounds and rocking out to the venue’s music between his shots, he quickly became a crowd favourite.

Taymon Kenton-Smith reacts during the individual recurve competition.Credit: Getty Images

He qualified for the semi-final, but lost and just missed out on a medal when he landed in fourth place.

“I’m a little bit upset,” he said. “I really wanted to come home with a medal. I was determined. I was ready. But I hope that I was gracious in defeat, and I hope that I was magnanimous in victory.”

Kenton-Smith said he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

“I came here to win and I won the crowd, so that’s definitely something. I will never be forgotten, I’m pretty sure about that.”

He said he had misread the wind in his last match and aimed too high, but he had no regrets.

Archery is a particularly tricky beast.

“The difference between hitting the target and missing it completely is only a couple of millimetres, and we’ve got to hit dead centre every time,” he said.

“And our matches are so short, it’s only a handful of arrows, so the tiniest slip up makes a world of difference.

“I didn’t go up against the best in the world. I beat them.”

Kenton-Smith, who was born without fingers on his left hand, took up archery at about age five.

At 14 years old, he promised his nana she would see him reach the Paralympics before she died.

He first competed at the Paralympics in Tokyo, where he made it to the round of eight in the team event.

“She passed away just before Tokyo, but she knew that I qualified, and that promise was what drove me [there],” he said.

Kenton-Smith next competes in the mixed team event alongside Amanda Jennings, starting on Thursday (Paris time).

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