Cheyenne archer at home on the range

Nichols' route to Olympics guided by discipline, faith, family

By Clay Latimer, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 29, 2008 at 1:25 p.m.

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Barry Gutierrez © The Rocky

Archer Jennifer Nichols stands for a portrait with her family at their home in Cheyenne. From top left are sister Amanda, who also is a competitive archer, brother Clay, mother Cheryl, sister Cassie and father Brent. The Nichols plan to travel to Beijing.

Photo by Barry Gutierrez © The Rocky

Olympic archer Jennifer Nichols practices on the family property in Cheyenne in May.

Jennifer Nichols was where she likes to be most on a bright summer afternoon - standing in the wide-open spaces behind her Wyoming home, surrounded by family and a lifestyle as quaint and old-fashioned as a quilting bee.

In an upstairs bedroom, Cheryl Nichols gave birth to three of her five children.

In the garage, Brent Nichols runs his business.

In the family room, Jennifer graduated high school.

And in the backyard, she became an Olympic athlete.

In a family of straight arrows, no one shoots as straight as Jennifer, an internationally ranked archer who's taking dead aim on gold in Beijing.

Though she was one of the youngest Americans at the 2004 Athens Games, Nichols advanced to the round of eight before losing to South Korean sharpshooter Mi-Jin Yun, the reigning gold medalist. But she bounced back to finish fourth at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships and sixth at the "Good Luck Beijing" test event held at the Olympic Green Archery Field.

"(Athens) was a huge experience for me," she said. "It was very difficult; I grew and learned a lot."

Even at major events, Nichols has a knack for fun, bouncing to music between shots and leading line dances at banquets.

During a promotional tour in New York, she shot an apple off a mannequin's head, a strawberry off a piece of cheesecake, a cluster of cream cheese out of the hole of a bagel. She chatted with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today Show and popped up with the morning crew at ESPN.

But archery is a grind, and Nichols is a perfectionist. The willowy 24-year-old shoots up to 230 arrows a day in her backyard, six days a week, pumps iron and follows a strict cardio training regimen.

Steady nerves and unwavering faith are crucial to hitting the center of a target 70 meters away, which is why Nichols also tucks index cards with passages of biblical Scripture in her quiver and prays between shots and matches.

"When I practice I memorize them, recite them. Then, during a tournament, when I worry too much or get nervous, I start reciting the verses. The Scriptures and my prayers give me peace," she said.

It's a family affair

Jennifer always can count on her family. The Nichols do nearly everything together.

They go hunting, though Jennifer carries only a camera. They take dance lessons, Jennifer becoming accomplished enough to teach some herself. And five children were home schooled, taught by Cheryl. For PE, they picked up bows and headed out the back door.

"This is a special place," said Jennifer, whose younger sister Amanda was in the hunt for an Olympic berth. "My family is my greatest support system."

In 1976, Brent and Cheryl were married in Kansas City; 14 years later they moved their young family to Cheyenne, where Brent owns and operates Picasso Gate, a company that designs and installs security gates for celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Kevin Costner.

The days fell into a predictable rhythm: The children woke up, headed downstairs for breakfast, read Scripture, then walked to school, in the next room.

"It's kind of old-fashioned, but it's more family oriented," Cheryl said of home-schooling. "It's very time-

consuming. They're all at different levels. You have one starting on math and you're helping the next on another subject.

"We did a lot of reading out loud; we read all the Little House on the Prairie books."

On Christmas Day 1995, Jennifer and her siblings found several sets of bows and arrows under the tree, a gift from Brent, who'd picked them up the night before at Wal-Mart. He set up 3-D deer and woodchuck targets in the yard and an indoor range in the garage.

"We didn't get into archery to go to the Olympics," Brent said. "It gave them a focus to keep them out of the things that are happening in the world: in the malls, with kids riding around in cars. It gave them discipline."

Jennifer joined a local club, entered her first meet at 13, then made her national debut a year later. At 15, she won the 2001 junior national target championship.

"A coach told me I could be a candidate for the Olympics some day," she said. "I had a love for the sport and a love for competing. But it never occurred to me I could take it to such a grand level. I put aside college so I could train and I shot up the ranks immediately."

Invited to move to a training center in Tucson in 2001, Nichols was too much the homebody to leave home, though she started intermittent training there as the 2008 Games approached.

Cool under pressure

At the 2003 World Indoor Championships in Nimes, France, Nichols' first big international tournament, the airline lost her luggage, which included the bag with her bow.

She fashioned a makeshift bow out of her teammate's equipment for practice, then picked up the pieces without missing a beat once her bow was returned. Nichols won a gold medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games, setting two meet records, and was named USA Archery female athlete of the year, her reputation for Zen-like calm in ascendence.

"It's the Nichols' will to do well in everything they do," said Alex, a brother.

The Nichols clan traveled to national meets to watch Jennifer and Amanda, crowding into a vehicle that quickly became a mobile family room.

"We've driven to Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania . . . there are very few states we haven't been to," Brent said. "We sing oldies, listen to preaching tapes, books on tapes. It's fun. One time in Phoenix we went to a Civil War ball."

In Athens, the Nichols sat side-by-side in historic Panathinaiko Stadium, holding cards that spelled the family name. Cassie, the youngest, ended up in the South Korean section, having a ball.

Soon the Nichols family will be in Beijing, watching Jennifer take another shot at her Olympic dream. But that moment seemed far away on this summer afternoon.

"We've spent so many evenings here shooting so many arrows," Jennifer said. "It's my happy place. I think about it often when I'm away."

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