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The Olympics You Didn’t See with Joe Bailey
 Editor’s Note: We all admire the power, the strength, the dedication and the commitment we observed in the competitors at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China. But there was a second Olympics many of us didn’t see – the Paralympics that took place immediately following. The Paralympics featured physically-challenged men and women from all over the world competing against other athletes with similar disabilities. Alpen Optics was pleased and proud to sponsor this year’s U.S. Paralympics Archery Team.
After Joe Bailey’s truck wreck in 1989 left him a left-leg amputee, Bailey of Flushing, Michigan, like many other Paralympians, thought his days of competition were ended. He never considered the possibility of becoming a world-class athlete with his disability.
“I started shooting archery as a part of my rehabilitation program after my accident,” Bailey says. “I’d always been an outdoorsman and a sportsman, and when the weather was bad, I started shooting indoor archery. I found that archery was a sport I could participate in year-round, and that I really enjoyed. I liked the challenge of becoming much-more accurate when I shot my bow and being a much-more skilled hunter when I hunted.”
In 2001, a twist of fate gave Bailey a new career. The U.S. National Paralympics Games were held in Canton, Mich., just 90 miles from his home. He decided to compete and qualified for the U.S. Disabled Veterans Team. Although Bailey had been shooting competitive archery before then, he never before that had shot Federation of International Target Archers (FITA) style archery. Since that time, Bailey has traveled the world as a world-class tournament archer and has competed in World Championships in Madrid, Spain, Italy, South Korea, London, England and recently, Beijing, China, under the AR Compound Standing classification. Archery has become a very-important part of Bailey’s life.
“A few years ago, I decided I wanted a quality pair of binoculars to use in competition,” Bailey explains. “So, I evaluated quite a few different pairs of binoculars and found that the Alpen binoculars provided the same high-quality performance as the more-expensive binoculars at a price I could afford. My Alpen binoculars are crystal clear. I was so pleased and impressed with my Alpen binoculars that I also bought Alpen’s 788 Spotting Scope. When I’m looking at a 90-meter target through this spotting scope, I not only can tell where my arrows hit in the target, but I also can see gnats and other little bugs flying in the air between me and the target. I shoot very-small diameter competitive arrows, and they’re extremely hard to see without a quality spotting scope. So, I rely heavily on my Alpen spotting scope. Once I can tell in which ring of the target the arrow is located, I can aim off the arrow closest to the bull’s-eye and shoot more accurately.”
In many competitions, Bailey will shoot at 90 meter (98.4 yards) ranges, but in Olympic competition, he shoots at 70 meters (76.5 yards). Bailey shoots Easton X10 Pro Tour arrows with a PSE MoneyMaker bow.
In this year’s Paralympics, Bailey finished 5th in the World. “I finished 2-points away from my teammate with a chance to shoot for a medal,” Bailey reveals. The U.S. Paralympics Team, sponsored by Alpen, collected two individual bronze medals as well as the women’s bronze and the W1 bronze. The Paralympics team from each country was chosen through an elimination system, so the best shooters from each country competed against each other. To finish 5th in these games was a tremendous accomplishment for Bailey.
“I never would have believed when I was lying in my bed after my truck wreck that I would ever have been able to compete for any prize, and I hardly can believe now that I can travel the world and compete against some of the best archers in the world with disabilities like mine,” Bailey humbly says. “Archery started out as a rehabilitation vehicle, and then it became a hobby. Now, it’s my extreme sport. I’ve traveled all over the United States this year. For the last 6 months, I’ve been in a different state or country every month. I’ve got quite a few air miles on my Alpen scope and binoculars, and they still have performed fantastically. My binoculars and spotting scopes are so important to me that I carry them with me in my carry-on luggage.
“I’ve been sponsored by Alpen Optics since 2005, and Alpen’s being the official sponsor of the U.S. Paralympics Archery Team was a great honor for me. Not only was Alpen’s sponsorship a tremendous gesture of support, but the people at the company have become friends to me and the other Paralympians. I was proud to compete for my country in the Paralympics Games, and I was proud that Alpen was a part of each of our successes.”
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