Photo by Dean Alberga of dutchtarget.com

U.S. archer Reo Wilde (shown here at the Croatia World Cup) shot a perfect score of 120 in the gold medal match to win the FITA Archery World Cup Final on Oct. 22, 2006.

Reo Wilde fired a perfect 120 in the gold medal match of the 2006 FITA Archery World Cup Final on Oct. 22 to defeat Peter Elzinga of the Netherlands, maintaining the No. 1 overall ranking in the men’s compound category. His perfect score was the only one shot in the World Cup Series this year.

Wilde, 33, of Pocatello, Idaho, has archery in his blood, as his father Dee and brother Logan are all veterans of international competition. Reo won his first World Indoor in Nimes, France, in 2003, where he won the team and the individual gold. He also won a team gold medal at the Outdoor that year, becoming one of the only people to ever win three world championship gold medals in one year.

Reo recently discussed his perfect score, his superstitions and his hobbies in an exclusive interview.

1. Talk about the 2006 FITA Archery World Cup Final.
It was huge because it was the first one ever, and it’s kind of a big deal because it is going to be probably one of the biggest events archery’s been involved in in a long time. The publicity they got out of it and everything else has just been astonishing. They had it broadcast live in about five or six different countries, plus a live Pay-Per-View Webcast. I’ve never really heard of anything being that big in archery before.

2. So before that last arrow, what’s going through your mind? Anything different or just the same focus?
Actually, I thought the 120 would be nice, but I knew that if I made a good shot, I had already won, and that was my main concern or my main goal that I had going into it. I thought the 120 would be nice, but just to get that arrow downrange without any mishap or anything was probably more what was on my mind. And if ended up with the 120, it was a bonus.

3. And you did get that 120. So right after that last shot, what are the emotions?
It was awesome. It was probably one of my big archery career moments. It was exciting. It was great –I had my fiancé right behind me so it was great, I could run back and talk to her and give her a big hug. It was awesome to be able to share it with her, in my book.

4. How do you prepare for a match? Any superstitions?
We all have little superstitions, you know, anything that’s worked well that year, you’re gonna kind of repeat it. All year I wore some Gore-Tex shoes, and the weather was beautiful in Mexico but they had been shoes that treated me really well, so I wore them again that match. Just little things that you try to repeat and do over and over again.

5. What is your favorite place that you’ve traveled to with archery?
Probably one of my favorites was – we shot my first World Indoor and that’s probably why it’s a little more special, in what was like a Roman Coliseum in the south of France, in Nimes, France [The Place des Arenes]. It was really pretty in there.

6. What is your favorite thing to do in Idaho? What other hobbies do you have?
I’ve lived here pretty much my whole life. I love to shoot my bow, is probably number one, but other than that I enjoy fishing and going out and doing all kinds of things like that – just outdoorsy stuff. Pretty much fishing, hunting and playing golf. That’s about all I have time to time to do. I work at a semi-part-time full-time job at UPS. I’d say pretty much between all that and my practice time, it keeps me pretty busy.

7. You mentioned that you went from recurve back to compound. Can you tell me a little bit about the differences and why the compound suits you better?
I wouldn’t say one suits me more, it’s just that each one has their own natural ability that you have to have to do well with. I mean, the compound is probably more aiming – I call it more of a nerve game, because if you don’t shoot a good score, like a 120 or a 119 – I mean, my first score was a 118 – you could lose. So it’s a little more nerve-wracking, considering that the Olympic recurve people there won with like a 107 or 105. You could miss a whole arrow and still win. There are a little different aspects to both, but I think that’s part of what suits me because I really enjoy them tight nerves.

8. How do you train?
The nice part I have is that I have a dad and brother that are both world-class archers, so I get to shoot against them all the time head-to-head, which, to me, is so much of an advantage. You know, we have Olympic Training Centers and stuff for people to compete against each other, but I mean, I have that a home, so it’s kind of hard to not have an advantage with that.

Athlete tips: Reo Wilde's tips on shooting a perfect score