Peter Otto Stecher (born 1965 in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
) is an expert in
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 ...
. He is a published author on the subject, and he has toured the globe to perform in various archery events as "Bowman", including a slapstick routine with a character he calls "Barry Bowdini". Stecher lives in
Lockenhaus
Lockenhaus (; ) is a town in the district of Oberpullendorf in the Austrian state of Burgenland. The town is well known for the annual Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival founded by violinist Gidon Kremer.
History
The town was (like the whole B ...
, where in 1991 he founded the first archery club in the
Burgenland
Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Austria. It consists of two statutory city (Austria), statut ...
state.
Stecher is known as a classic bow purist, shooting every bow type, but prefers the simple straight
American semi-longbow similar to the ones favored by
Howard Hill
Howard Hill (born Lemuel Howard Hill and later cited Howard H. Hill;"Lemuel" is verified as Hill's first name in th"Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910" image of original census page for John F. Hill family, "Wilsonville Town", Shelby C ...
.
[
Stecher's book, ''Legends in Archery - Adventurers with Bow and Arrow'' (]Schiffer Publishing
Schiffer Publishing Ltd. (also known for its imprints Schiffer, Schiffer Craft, Schiffer Military History, Schiffer Kids, REDFeather MBS, Cornell Maritime Press, Tidewater Publishers, Thrums Books, and Geared Up Publications) is a family-owned p ...
, 2010, ), began as a 2008 series of portraits of famous archers, for a German-language trade magazine. The book was then published in the German language in 2008, then more widely released in 2010, in English. One of the subjects of Stecher's book is American star archer, Byron Ferguson, who contacted Stecher, and the two bowmen became friends. Stecher has translated Ferguson's own book, ''Become the Arrow'', into German. Stecher then completed a 20-minute DVD featuring trick shots and slow-motion imaging with a high-speed camera.[
More recently, Stecher was invited to ]Nanjing
Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400.
Situated in the Yang ...
as one of the seven best "Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary noble outlaw, heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature, theatre, and cinema. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions o ...
" archers from around the world, to appear on a Chinese televised program featuring an archery competition, the first ever on popular Chinese broadcasting. The show, which aired on Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation
Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation (JSBC) () is China's third biggest television network after China Central Television (CCTV) and Hunan Broadcasting System (HBS). The television network is owned by the Jiangsu provincial government. The network is ...
on 22 February 2015, was seen by 250 million Chinese viewers. One contestant was Chinese Olympic gold medalist
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
, Zhang Juanjuan
Zhang Juanjuan (; born January 2, 1981, in Qingdao, Shandong, People's Republic of China) is an archery, archer from the People's Republic of China.
Early and personal life
Zhang was born on 2 January 1982 in the Chinese city of Qingdao in Shan ...
. The challenge was to shoot arrows at falling rings.
References
External links
Peter O. Stecher website
Austrian male archers
Living people
1965 births
20th-century Austrian sportsmen
{{Austria-archery-bio-stub