NOTEBOOK

Archer Denise Parker, 1988 Olympic bronze medalist from South Jordan, Utah, is, at 17, the youngest archer at the Festival. She had this to say about 53-year old Ed Eliason of Stansbury Park, Utah, one of the top archers in the country and the oldest archer at the Festival:

“Here he is 51 and he has the body of a 25-year-old. Everything in Ed’s life is archery. That’s all he talks about, he’s been around it for such a long time. When I was beginning, he helped me out a lot. (Especially) in attitude.”

Eliason, who is coached by his wife, Joan, had already practiced and left Hjelte Park Tuesday morning before the other archers arrived for practice.

Officials said he went to UCLA to run, but planned to return later in the afternoon for more practice.

Eliason, a former Green Beret, was a member of the 1972 Olympic team. Eliason won the gold medal at the 1989 Festival.

Jay Barrs, who won the 1988 Olympic gold medal in archery, saw the movie “Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves” with a couple of fellow archers, and was prepared to rip apart their treatment of archery.

But Barrs could find little wrong.

“I think they did an excellent job,” Barrs said.