Armless Archer Reveals His Secret To Winning Gold — And It’s Absolutely Bonkers

Matt Stutzman, who is better known as the “Armless Archer,” is certainly, uh, creative.
The Team USA Paralympian won gold in the Para Archery men’s individual compound open event and set a new Paralympic record (for the elimination rounds) of 149 points at the Paris Paralympic Games on Monday.
Stutzman lives in rural Iowa with his family and is left to his own devices when it comes to practicing archery, especially since he pioneered playing the sport without arms. But he’s figured out a truly unique way to simulate the way he feels when he’s competing at the highest level: He gives himself adrenaline rushes during training.
“If you’re not at home practicing how to handle adrenaline, and you’re just in your backyard shooting, it’s not going to actually help you out,” Stutzman explained to NBCOlympics.com. “Because when you get to the Games, you’re going to have adrenaline, and it’s going to feel completely different than at home in the practice range.”
So Stutzman has created a few techniques that help him get his blood pumping while he’s training. They range from the practical to the seemingly over the top.
Stutzman told ABC’s 538 website in 2021 that one of his milder strategies is to flip over cards to set up an imaginary competition. He’ll flip a card over with his foot, and its number will reflect a competitor’s score as he practices.
“The harder the opponent gets, the higher the number is [on the card],” Stutzman said while flipping over a card with his foot to demonstrate for ABC. “What you guys see is me turning over a nine. What I see is my opponent on my right just shot a nine.”
Stutzman told NBC that he also drives race cars and jumps out of planes to get a rush.
He told NBC that he likes to skydive, and when he reaches the ground, he busts out his bow and gets to work — and has been doing this as part of his training since 2014.
How did archer Matt Stutzman train for the #ParisParalympics? By jumping out of airplanes, of course! #skydive #teamusa #archery #paralympics2024
But he shared his most bizarro technique with NBCOlympics.com, and it’s, guys, it’s bananas.
He told the website that he decided to create an obstacle course of sorts using his three most prized possessions — his race car, home and the silver medal he won in the 2012 London Paralympic Games.
His goal was to shoot an arrow through his car and home to a target that had his silver medal hung on it.
“If I don’t make this one shot count, I’m either hitting my house, I’m hitting my race car or I’m hitting my Paralympic medal that I can’t replace,” Stutzman recalled. “What that did was it created a shoot-off pressure situation.”
Not to mention potentially upsetting his spouse. Thankfully, Stutzman made the shot.
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Stutzman’s road to the Paralympics is certainly impressive as well. He was born without arms, and his birth parents put him up for adoption as an infant. He told the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) in February that doctors did not know why he was born without arms and told the IPC that he’s “just one in a million.”
He was adopted by a farming family in Fairfield, Iowa, and he grew up watching his dad and brother hunt with arrows to provide food for the family. But Stutzman didn’t pick up a bow until he was in his late 20s in 2008, according to NBC. With some trial and error, he eventually created a technique in which he could shoot using just his feet. He then became the first para-archer to compete without using fingers, wrists or triceps in the compound open events. He made his Paralympics debut in 2012 and has since inspired other para-archers without arms to do the same.
Earlier this month, teen archer Sheetal Devi, who is also armless, of Team India went viral after she hit a bullseye in her first competition and snagged bronze in her event. And although social media users couldn’t stop chattering about her accomplishment, Stutzman likely isn’t sour about the teenager getting the shine for doing something he perfected more than a decade ago.
“There’re more armless archers involved in this sport now,” Stutzman told World Archery earlier this month. “You can take away all my medals, and I wouldn’t care, because that would be my medal.”
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