Men's Archery Team, Led by Brady Ellison, Aim For Something Never Done Before

One of the most epic, must-watch events at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics was the men's recurve team finals in archery. The American team shot about as well as any team could shoot that day. The South Koreans were just a touch better.

Despite a performance America's Brady Ellison said was "darn good" that day, the South Koreans were near-prefect.

The American trio of Ellison, Jake Kiminski and Zach Garrett took home the team silver, which matched the U.S. team's accomplishment at the 2012 Games, where they fell to Italy in the gold medal round.

Now, going into the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, the Americans are favored to make it back to the medal round. This time there won't be crowd noise in the background. Just the guys with their bows and arrows.

This year's team, comprised of Ellison, Jacob Wukie and Jack Williams, is the first group of Americans to each have shot a score of 680 during qualifying. They're not the only Olympic team to do it, though.

As Ellison told Newsweek, it will take some luck to go along with years of honing their craft and practicing their skills.

"I compare shooting archery to pro gambling," said Ellison, who won individual bronze in Rio and is currently the top-ranked archer in the world. "There's a lot of luck involved in what you're doing. In poker, you can have a great hand and lose. In archery, you can shoot good and still lose."

That's what happened in the 2016 team finals in Rio.

That's when Ellison was still playing through some nagging injuries. He had problems with his fingers and had knee surgery after those Games. That was before he and his wife, Slovenian archer Toja, had their first child. He's older, calmer and wiser now, and he's headed to his fourth Olympic Games.

"I think as you get older, you get more comfortable," said Ellison, who has a more laid-back demeanor than he did prior to Rio. "As you get older in life, you start focusing on the little stuff."

Ellison said he doesn't feel pressure, even as the No. 1 archer on the planet with a bullseye on his own back.

"I don't feel a lot of pressure," said Ellison, before he hopped on a jet and headed to Tokyo with the USA Archery team. "I think a lot of times how hard it is to stay at the top, no matter how talented you are. I think it's really hard to stay No. 1 in any sport for a long period of time."

The Americans are aiming for their first Olympic gold medal since 1996, when the team of Justin Huish, Richard Johnson and Rod White won the men's title at the Atlanta Games. Huish also won individual gold in Atlanta, which is also the last time an American won the Olympic individual gold medal.

This year's U.S. trio has a chance to win a team medal and two individual medals at the same Olympics, which has never been done by an American squad at any modern Olympic Games. Only once in history have two individuals medaled, which was at the 1984 Los Angeles Games when Darrell Pace (gold) and Richard McKinney (silver) did it. But there was no team medal.

That's also the only time two Americans won individual medals at the same Olympics.

This year's team feels they have the right ingredients to become that first team to bring home a heavier medal haul.

"I think we definitely ended up with a pretty strong and amazing team," Ellison said. "I feel that if we shoot like we did to get our spot, then we have a strong chance to win gold and a strong chance to win multiple individual medals.

"We'll need a little luck, and just shoot the way we have been the last couple of years."

Wukie was on the 2012 team that beat South Korea in the semifinals before falling to Italy. Williams, who's just 21, wasn't even shooting archery full-time yet in 2012. He received his first bow in 2013, but he quickly shot up the ranks to make the 2020 Olympic team.

Williams feels the Americans have a chance to not just win gold, but perhaps even sweep the individual awards.

"That's the goal, to win as many medals for Team USA," Williams said. "Our obvious goals are individual gold, silver and medal and a team gold. I think this is a team that can do that."

The men's team elimination round, quarterfinals and medal rounds will all be on Monday morning and afternoon (Japan time), which will be Sunday afternoon and evening in the United States.