Champion Archer Aims at World Crown in Norway

Even in the supermarket line, Sandy Gottlieb becomes entranced by the vision of drawing back the bow. Someone behind her will say, “Excuse me, are you going to move?” but the archer, slow to snap out of it, hears only the singing of a bright-feathered arrow headed into the bull’s-eye.

Archery is 75% mental, explained Gottlieb, a Long Beach native who is on the 12-member U.S. team that will compete in the World Field Championships starting Aug. 26 in Loen, Norway.

But she hardly neglects the physical side of a sport that requires much more than strong arms. Two-mile walks strengthen her thighs for the mountainous courses that await in Norway. There, she will be shooting at 24 targets, half from unmarked distances, over a seven-hour period in what is considered archery’s marathon.

To prepare, she shoots for hours each day. “I have to control how much I do because once I start I don’t want to stop,” said Gottlieb, 36, who began shooting as a student at Millikan High School. “It can get to where you’re just flinging arrows.”

Gottlieb was not just flinging them in June when she won the Ladies Compound Division in the U.S. National Field Championships at Santa Cruz, and also captured the California state title.

Her bow does not look like even a remote descendant of the kind Indians once used. Called a compound, it is made of carbon and has a launcher rest (on which the arrow sits), a stabilizer, a peep sight, a sight extension bar, a power scope, a release mechanism and a pulley system that lessens the weight she feels when in the full-draw position.

Compound bows are usually shunned by traditionalists, who prefer the basic “recurve” bow, the kind used in the Olympics.

“The recurve is harder to shoot,” Gottlieb said. “You’re holding the full weight the whole time. Muscle fatigue sets in.”

Though she lives now in Azusa, Gottlieb grew up around El Dorado Park in Long Beach. She returned there last Saturday morning, coaching and teaching.

Teen-agers with arrow cases (quivers) attached to their waists stood on a long slab of sunny, green-painted concrete. They shot at targets affixed to straw bales that sat beneath the roof of a shed about 20 yards away.

She walked down the line, analyzing the techniques of the members of a Junior Olympic Archery Development team--the El Dorado Archers--she organized five years ago. The team, which has won a national title, has about 40 members.

“Are you feeling much tension in the shoulder?” she asked Jennifer Peavy.

Correct form is crucial in archery, as much as unerring eyesight or concentration.

“Every part of the body is critical,” Gottlieb said. “Everything--how you stand, how you bring the string back--has to be the same, shot after shot after shot. You want tension in the upper back muscles, not the shoulder.”

In order to focus fully on her form, Gottlieb will sometimes shoot with her eyes closed. “But not in my garage,” she said. “I’m scared I’ll hit the water heater and my dad will kill me.”

When the youngsters had shot all their arrows, Gottlieb said, “Go get ‘em.” They walked to the targets, extracted their arrows and excitedly calculated their scores.

They seemed comfortable around this short, cheerful woman who wears glasses when she shoots. And somewhat in awe of her ability.

“When she’s hot, she smokes,” said Scott McKechnie, 15, who finished second in a recent national outdoor tournament.

Gottlieb smoked most recently at an indoor meet at Archers Haven in Monrovia, scoring a perfect 300 points--60 consecutive arrows into the bull’s-eye or X-ring from 20 yards.

“It’s an actual high,” she said, describing that streak. “It’s a miracle, a wonderful feeling. You want to keep cool, but you get hyper.”

After shooting for the Cal State Long Beach archery team, Gottlieb withdrew from the sport for seven years because her job as a merchandising manager for a department store did not allow her the time.

“It was great in high school and college, but I didn’t think I’d miss it,” she said. “We got the old gang together and went out to dinner. That’s all it took. I got back in it.”

That was in 1980. She quit her job and became a service representative for Pacific Bell in Pasadena.

For Gottlieb, who eventually wants to be an Olympics coach, archery forces her to challenge herself and strive to be perfect on every shot.

“I’ve always been a strong competitor,” she said. “But if I lose, my mom will still love me and my dog will still play with me.”

Gottlieb is delighted that about a week ago she emerged from a slight slump. “I am so confident now that I don’t have to worry about my shooting, just that my equipment is set,” she said.

In Norway, she will face archery’s most difficult conditions as she takes to the course in hiking boots. “It’s not neat and groomed like this,” she said.