Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez, a world-class archer from Brockton, hopes to represent Team USA and honor her heritage at the Summer Games.
She's a Brockton, Massachusetts, native aiming for gold.
Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez is vying for a spot in Team USA ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. She's looking to represent her country and honor her heritage.
"I would like to be one of those archers that is always on the podium, is always on the top, is always fighting for those medals in every competition," said Mucino-Fernandez.
At 21 years old, Mucino-Fernandez is already an Olympian, medaling at world competitions.
"I train six days of the week pretty much from 9 to 5 every day," she said.
Don't let her age and soft demeanor fool you. She's a sharp-shooting, target-nailing, archery-mastering machine.
"Apparently, I started saying that I wanted to be an Olympian when I was really young, like, like six, seven years old," said Mucino-Fernandez.
It was around that age when she and her parents moved out of the Bay State to Mexico City.
"My dad, he bought me a magazine from the 20 – I believe 2012 Pan American Games in Mexico in Guadalajara. You know, I was going through it. I saw archery and I was like, 'Hey, I want to try this,'" said Mucino-Fernandez.
She was introduced to an archery instructor who would nurture her new-found interest, while training her mother, Rosa, to become Mucino-Fernandez's coach.
"She has been there the whole way," said Mucino-Fernandez.
But before Mucino-Fernandez could complete globally, she would need to learn the Olympic version of archery.
Here are the rules: archers like Mucino-Fernandez use a recurve bow to shoot at a five-color target from a distance of 70 meters or 230 feet. Each color in the target represents different points. The closer to the bullseye the higher the score.
In today's Olympics, archery is divided into individual, mixed team and team events, each one with a different number of arrows shot for every set in a game. The first team or individual to get six or more set points, wins the match and advances to the next round.
Fast forward about 10 years to when Mucino-Fernandez was trying out at the 2019 World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid and where she made both the U.S. and Mexico teams.
"I ended up choosing the U.S. I went to Madrid, you know, it was great competition," she said.
Mucino-Fernandez would then learn to compete at the Olympic level but as good as she was getting, COVID, like many things, forced her to put archery on pause, er future in the sport in doubt.
"A lot of archers quit during COVID. So, you know, like I talked to my parents, and they were like, you know, like, 'Just finish it. Just finish the trials. You are in fifth, you have a good spot, just, I mean, you're already there, so just finish it,'" she said.
So, she picked up her bow and arrow again and finished the team trials for the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Tokyo was like dipping her toes in water. She wouldn't medal but it did, however, giver her the confidence to know she's got a real shot next summer in Paris.
In the meantime, Mucino-Fernandez has been working on her patience, her precision and her concentration.
"Trusting what you're doing and trusting that they're always going to hit where it’s supposed to hit," she said.
With her sight set on Paris, she said she's "getting more confident, I'm getting better."
As she gets closer to the target, she's reminded of where she started and that the parents that helped her along the way.
"I don't think I could be here without them," said Mucino-Fernandez.
And if Tokyo was a test, Paris is the prize.
"Don't give up," she said. "So, if you want something, just pursue it."
