Richard Andrew "Butch" Johnson (August 30, 1955 – May 27, 2024) was an American archer. He competed in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

five times, and was a part of the gold medal U.S. team at the

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

and the bronze medal U.S. team in the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

2004 Summer Olympics

At the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, he was surprisingly eliminated by Ron van der Hoff with 135-145 in the round of 64, placing 52nd overall in men's individual archery. He later placed 4th as a member of the United States team.

2008 Summer Olympics

At the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Johnson finished his ranking round with a total of 653 points. This gave him the 40th seed for the final competition bracket in which he faced Andrey Abramov in the first round. Both scored 109 points in the regular match and they had to go to an extra round. In this extra round Abramov scored 25 points, while Johnson advanced to the second round with 26 points. There he faced eight seeded

Im Dong-Hyun Im Dong-hyun (; ; born 12 May 1986) is a South Korean archer. He competes for the South Korean national team and is a former world number one. He has 20/200 vision in his left eye and 20/100 vision in his right eye, meaning he needs to be ...

, who was too strong with 115-106. Together with

Brady Ellison Brady Ellison (born October 27, 1988) is an American archer who competes in recurve archery. He holds the record for the longest continuous period as the world number-one-ranked men's recurve archer, from August 2011 to April 2013. He earned ...

and Vic Wunderle he also took part in the team event. With his 653 score from the ranking round combined with the 664 of Ellison and the 652 of Wunderle the Americans were in 10th position after the ranking round. In the first round they were not able to win against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

that won the confrontation by 222-218.

After the Olympics

Johnson maintained himself as one of the best recurve shooters in the country, having ranked in the top five in the United States and placed sixth in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Amid speculation that he would retire following the Trials, Johnson came back to finish second in the 2012 National Target Championships and won a silver medal in the 2012 Hoyt World Open, second only to number one world ranked archer

Personal life

Johnson was married to Teresa and had at least one child. He died in

Woodstock, Connecticut Woodstock is a New England town, town in Windham County, Connecticut, Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Northeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The populat ...

on 27 May 2024, at the age of 68, after several years of living with

chronic lymphocytic leukemia Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. In CLL, the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes, which are a type of white blood cell. In patients with CLL, B cell lymphocytes can begin to colle ...

.Butch Johnson obituary
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References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Butch 1955 births 2024 deaths American male archers Archers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Archers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Archers at the 2007 Pan American Games Archers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in archery Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in archery Sportspeople from Worcester, Massachusetts Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Archery Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics People from Woodstock, Connecticut Archers at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Archers at the 1995 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2007 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States in archery Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in archery Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in archery 21st-century American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Deaths from leukemia in the United States