Publicity Target : Simi Archery Medalist Still Laid-Back Despite His Celebrity

Justin Huish is the new poster boy for Generation X, and the media just can’t get enough of him.

That’s how it goes when you win two gold medals at the Olympics--and you have the grunge looks the media wants: the ponytail, the baseball hat worn backward, the earring, the cool sunglasses and the baggy shorts.

On the way back from a shoot for “The Tonight Show” on Tuesday afternoon, Huish’s late lunch was a takeout BLT. From the local Subway shop, he went home to talk to reporters. Before sitting down on the steps of his house to eat his sub, the 21-year-old archer nonchalantly pulled a gold medal from his back pocket.

He was only half done with his sandwich when a driver came to take him to the MTV Beachhouse for a television appearance. His mother, Ona Huish, has only been able to spend 20 minutes with him since he returned to Simi Valley on Sunday.

“I never had aspirations to be in the public eye,” Huish said. “But doors are opening, and I’d like to see where it will take me.”

But the newfound celebrity status has not displaced the 21-year-old archer’s laid-back attitude. The publicity is a mixed blessing, Huish said, answering questions with a touch of weariness in his voice.

“I like the notoriety,” Huish said. “But I have had a little taste of it and it’s not all that great. Everywhere I go, I have people tugging at me.”

Huish appears to be riding the wave of celebrity gracefully. He takes a wait-and-see attitude, aware that the media’s spotlight will turn away someday. Then it will be time to figure out what to do, he said.

“I was going to take some serious time off,” he said. But with the two gold medals, his plans have changed. For the next four years, he plans to stay focused on archery and continue to publicize a sport he has helped bring to the public eye.

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So far, there have been no big contracts or product endorsements, Ona Huish said. But a lot of things have changed.

“Everyone and their brother is calling,” she said. The list includes television shows “Good Morning America,” “Good Day L.A.” and others she can’t remember, as well as a number of charities, she said.

Stacks of fan mail have been delivered to her home--some of it addressed to “Olympic Gold Medalist, Justin Huish, Simi Valley,” which the post office knows exactly where to deliver, she said. The fan mail may be pouring in because Huish has no girlfriend and much has been said about his good looks, she added.

While he has his generation’s grunge looks, Huish is no slacker. He did drop out of Moorpark College three semesters before the Olympics, but it was to enter a rigorous training program. He practiced six days a week, pacing himself so as not to peak before the games.

“The last few months were pretty intense,” he said. “Training was pretty much a 24-hour thing.” Archery is a mental game and much of the preparation is mental, he said. “I don’t try to beat the other guy,” Huish said, explaining his strategy. “I just try to shoot my best shot. I stay in my own game.”

At home, Huish had to be creative to build a practice range. He placed a target on the far end of his backyard. Stepping back, he opened the back door of the garage. Going farther back, he rolled up the garage’s front door. Then he taped marks on the pavement--at 40 yards on his sidewalk and at 50 yards across the street. He would shoot the straight arrows through the garage and into the backyard and onto the target.

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The training paid off.

On Aug. 1, ninth-seeded Huish won the gold medal in the men’s individual 70-meter archery event, beating 63 competitors. The following day he led the U.S. men’s archery team in a comeback against favorite South Korea to win the gold again--the first such title for the United States since men’s team archery became a medal event in 1988.

The medals and Huish’s media-darling status have helped boost archery’s popularity. Throughout the United States, archery clubs are reporting newfound fans and booming sales since the Olympics, said Ona Huish, herself an archery instructor.

If his Gen-X looks help make archery a cool sport, so much the better, Huish said. And if his celebrity rubs off on his hometown, that’s good too, said the Simi Valley High School graduate.

“Simi is known for Rodney King,” Huish said. “This is better publicity.”