Archer Williamson targets archery medal

Six-time Olympian Alison Williamson is desperate to reward the British fans with an individual medal after the women's archery team suffered a first-round defeat to Russia at Lord's.

London 2012 has so far been a disappointment for the nation's bowmen and women, with the men's team also falling at the first hurdle against Ukraine on Saturday.

Stafford-based Williamson, Rotherham's Amy Oliver and Naomi Folkard of Leamington Spa started well against a Russian side ranked 10 places higher in the world rankings but eventually lost 215-208.

Even in defeat the British teams have been rapturously received and Williamson, who delighted the crowd with successive 10s against Russia, is eager to find out how a home medal would go down.

"The support has been absolutely amazing from the crowd. It's just incredible and I want to thank everyone," she said. "The reaction is the best I've ever had, we've never shot in front of such a crowd. Having our family and friends here is unbelievable. The Olympics should be held in London every time!

"An individual medal would be amazing. I can't imagine what the reaction would be like if we could pick one up. I would just like to thank everyone for their support."

There is no doubt that Sunday's early exit was a blow for the women's team, who narrowly lost the bronze medal match in Beijing four years ago, but 40-year-old Williamson will not let it ruin her preparations for the singles event.

She claimed individual bronze in the Athens Games of 2004 and is focused on the sizeable challenge of coming from 47th place in the rankings this time to reach the podium again.

"We can't change what happened, even if we'd like to. That's life," she said. "I've learnt from Beijing not to beat myself up about it. I can look at my arrows and I'm sure I could say 'I should have done this or that' but it doesn't change what happened.

"Now it is about concentrating on the individual competition coming up. I'll talk to my coach about some technical things, practice tomorrow and then come out on Tuesday and go for it."