Mel Clarke (born 2 September 1982) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Personal life

Clarke was born on 2 September 1982 in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England. Since the age of 11 she has used a wheelchair because of a dance she did, she landed on her knee and it paralysed her. In 2003

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a tick-borne disease caused by species of ''Borrelia'' bacteria, Disease vector, transmitted by blood-feeding ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. It is the most common disease spread by ticks in th ...

caused her to lose sight in one eye.

Archery

Clarke first tried

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

as a member of the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

in 1998. She took part in her first international competition in 2002. In 2003, she became the first disabled archer from Europe to take part in an able-bodied event at international level, however it was during this event that she contracted Lyme disease. She lost sight in her aiming eye and had to remodel her shooting style to compensate, developing a stance with her head tilted back to make best use of her working eye. At the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

, held in

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 ...

, China, she won a bronze medal in the women's individual compound event. Having been defeated by fellow British competitor Danielle Brown in the semifinal with a score of 113–105, Clarke beat Turkey's Gulbin Su in the bronze playoff to win the medal. In 2009, she won a gold medal in the team event and a silver in the individual at the World Championships held in the Czech Republic. She was overwhelmed 114-107 by teammate and reigning Paralympic Champion Danielle Brown in the final of the individual event. In the 2010 European Championships Clarke did not rank highly in the individual event, but won a silver medal with the women's compound team. Teammates Danielle Brown and Pippa Britton won the individual gold and silver respectively. Clarke also failed to make the team for the 2011 World Championships, beaten to the mark by Danielle Brown, Pippa Britton and Sarah Beamish. Clarke was selected to compete for

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The c ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom. She took part in the women's individual compound event and advanced to the final to face compatriot Brown. The first two sets were tied before Brown won the third and Clarke the fourth to force a fifth set. Clarke was left needing to score a ten with her final arrow to take the match to a shoot-off, however she was unable to capitalise on this and scored a seven meaning she won the silver medal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Mel English female archers Paralympic archers for Great Britain Archers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics 1982 births Living people Archers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic medalists in archery Sportspeople from Norwich 21st-century English sportswomen Paralympic wheelchair archers