Denise Parker, long considered one of the world's most accurate archers, will not represent the U.S. in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games.
In an attempt to make a field of eight in a shootoff this past weekend in Long Beach, Calif., Parker finished 9th.It was, she admitted, "the poorest shooting I've ever done." She said she simply fell victim to "the intense pressure."
"I knew what I had to do when I went into this. And I knew I had to shoot well. I didn't," she told her mother, Valorie.
Parker, who entered the national spotlight at the age of 10, has been ranked among the top women archers for more than a decade. At the age of 13 she was a double gold medalist in the Pan American Games and at 14 was a bronze medalist in the Summer Games in Soul, Korea.
In the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Parker finished fifth in the individual standings. This past August, the South Jordan resident finished 16th in the World Championships in Jarkarta, Indonesia. She was the only top-30 finisher for the U.S. Team.
Under a new Olympic selection process, countries must earn spots in the Games - they can no longer simply send shooters. With her 16th-place finish, Parked earned one place in the Olympics for the U.S. It is the only spot America holds.
Ironically, while she earned the spot, Parker had to shoot in three Olympic qualifiers in order to try and fill the spot.
Under the new qualifying format, the pressure is on the top shooters to survive or be eliminated.
In qualifying over the weekend, Parker said she shot well in the morning sessions, but not in the afternoon rounds.
She added that she was very disappointed with her finish, admitting that a hectic shooting schedule simply caught up to her. She began shooting in February at the Pan American Games.
She returned to Salt Lake City on Thursday. Her immediate plans are to resume her studies at the University of Utah. Past that, she said, she hasn't decided what the future holds.