Meet Me

Hi, my name is Victor Wunderle.  My friends call me Vic.  I was raised in Mason City, Illinois where I have spent the majority of my life.  This is the area in which most of my family resides. 

I began shooting archery at the age of five.  Both my father and grandfather shot archery for hunting and recreation.  As for me, I guess there is just something with little boys and anything that shoots, whether it is a slingshot, BB gun, or bow and arrow.  My first bow was made from a limb off of the willow tree in my back yard.  My father gave me an arrow he had taped a piece of cloth around the end of so I couldn’t hurt anyone.  I would run around the yard all day shooting at trees with my newly acquired toy. 

A couple of years later my father brought me to an archery tournament with him.  Unbeknown to me, I won the under 12 age category.  I was too young to read the score board and my father would not tell me that I had won because he was afraid I would be too excited the remainder of the day.  At the end of the tournament, the awards were given out.  All of the kids got participation medals except for me.  I felt a little sad because I was left out.  Then the awards were given for third place, second place, and finally when it was time for first, my name was called.  I had won my very first tournament!  From there I went on to many other local, state sectional, national, and finally world titles. 

After graduating from Illini Central high school in 1994, I began college at Texas A&M University.  At Texas A&M, I competed on the pistol, rifle, archery, and fishing teams.  I won and placed in tournaments from a local level to national championships.  In addition, I was involved with several bible study groups.  On several occasions I took off from school and work to train full time for the Olympics and the Olympic tryouts.  I finally graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences in December, 2002.  During my training and travels, I also took classes at Bradley University, San Diego State University, Blinn College, and Collin County Community College. 

I tried out for the US Olympic archery team 3 times before I made it.  In 1992, as a 16 year old boy, I finished 16^th place in the tryouts.  In 1996, I finished 6^th place in the Olympic trials.  I lost to the best in the world though as our team went on to win the Olympic Gold Medal that year.  In the 2000 Olympic trials, I finished an exciting first place by almost a 100-point margin.  I spent the year training at the Olympic Training Center in San Diego and at my parents’ home in Illinois.  I then got to travel to Sydney, Australia and represent the US in the world’s greatest sporting event where I was fortunate enough to bring home an Olympic Individual Silver Medal and a Team Bronze Medal.

Four years later, I again finished first in the US Olympic trials and went to Athens, Greece to represent the United States.  In the individual competition, I was defeated by the eventual Olympic Gold Medalist by a mere point in my quarter-final match, landing me in 8th place.  In the team competition, I shot well but the team came up one point short of winning our semi-final match that would have assured us either a gold or silver medal.  The bronze medal then escaped our grasp by two points landing the team in the 4th place position, just out of the medals.

Currently I am part of the 2008 US Team training full time towards the Olympics in China.  I am really excited about our prospects of returning to the Olympic podium.  I have the Olympic Bronze.  I have the Olympic Silver.  Nothing would please me more than to bring the Olympic Gold back to the United States.