Olympics 2024: How a man from Maghull became coach of the Israeli national team

The 2024 Olympics will be Richard Priestman’s third in a row. The international archery coach has been to two with Team GB and will be taking two talented Israeli archers to Paris this summer.

Having previously coached Great Britain at Tokyo 2020 and Rio De Janeiro in 2016, he has embarked on a new and, ultimately, challenging mission: to medal with Israel. Priestman’s Olympic history dates back far further than that; the 69-year-old achieved two Team Bronze Medals as a competitor at Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992. He also competed in the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

This will be Israel’s second ever appearance at the Olympic games when it comes to Archery. Itay Shanny became the first archer ever to qualify for the games in Tokyo and now their hopes lie with two talented up-and-comers who have had the best years of their career so far. The two talented youngsters in question are Roy Dror, 19, and Mikaella Moshe, 20.

The Archery begins a day earlier than the official games start date as competitors have to engage in a ranking round to determine the draw for the main events - and it stands as a key chance to earn a favourable route. Ahead of the games, which officially begins on July 26, we caught up with Priestman in an exclusive interview to preview his team’s chances, how he copes with the ongoing Israeli conflict and how a man born in Walton and raised in Maghull found his way to international Archery.

How did a man from Maghull become the coach of the Israeli national team?

It’s been a very long and exciting journey. From being a very average club archer in Maghull in the early 1970’s, I progressed slowly as an archer to make the GBR team for the Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona Olympics. Winning medals in the last two gave me a really good reputation to sell as I always had coaching instincts. 

But it was in 2009 that I had the opportunity to become a full time professional coach which took me to places as far away as Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Great Britain and now Israel -  all of them have gone on to win many international medals and even two of my old archers have become World Number one ranked archers.

Archery is a passion for me and it is a real privilege to earn a good living to do what is basically my hobby. Part time coaching and seminars became the norm for me. 

The ongoing conflict in Israel is something that you are faced with every day, albeit from afar, it must raise a few eyebrows when you tell people where you work and live? 

Fortunately, we train in a relatively quieter part of Israel, but Israel is a small country, and the dangers are very real and very close. Life is certainly not normal but we are sports persons and don’t get involved in politics or the stresses and threats of war. The British Embassy recommended Brits to leave Israel, but I can’t abandon my team. We try to keep everything as normal as we possibly can - it does create some good mental toughness. 

How does your team deal with the stresses? 

We train for eight hours as part of our daily training,  in temperatures of between 35-45C in the summer months, with a purpose of keeping our minds away from the troubles. It requires a lot of focus to do this.

The event at the Paris Olympics will take place in a spectacular location, in the gardens of Les Invalides. It the historic complex, that dates back to the late 17th century, one of the more brilliant locations you’ll have worked within?

The Olympic Games are always held in iconic places and they are all special in their own ways. Rio 2016 was held in the famous Sambodromo - a spectacular stadium. It was right in front of one of the massive Favelas which also had the iconic Christ the Redeemer on top of the hill in the distance.

Dror is ranked as high as he’s ever been at 23. How impressive has his sharp ascent been? And what type of tournament is he capable of?

Archery is currently very competitive - as many as 25 archers have a realistic expectation of winning a medal here and Roy is one of them. I am a realist, Roy is tracking perfectly for a medal in LA2028, that is the main goal, so anything we do here will be a real bonus. 

But you never know what surprises will happen in sport, especially the Olympic Games. In the last year he has beaten the Olympic Silver and Gold medalists from Tokyo 2020; when he is on form he can shoot brilliantly.

Moshe has made terrific progress given she only began shooting less than two years ago, she’s risen from 398 in the world to 38 in a year, what’s the goal for her in this tournament?

Mikaella is still growing as an archer and is still a relative beginner, as we focus a lot on learning a good and effective technique. After 15 years as an elite gymnast, she has developed very quickly across my time here. Like Roy she can medal in four years time, I am not adding any extra performance pressure on her here. I will be delighted if she makes the top 16, but she could be a surprise of the competition if she finds her best form. Let’s see. 

Regardless of the performance at Paris, what is the goal for the Israeli team across the next few years?

We aim to be competitive in all competitions over the next 2 years and, of course, at Los Angeles 2028. I have a group of 12-15 archers who train almost full time. 

Is there anywhere else you'd like to venture to after Israel?

I never really make plans for my coaching career, but I get lovely and interesting requests to coach different countries. I went to train Israel as I could see good potential and a great sense of purpose - it is an exciting project for me. I will be 73 years old in 2028 but coaching a team for LA2028 is a major goal for me as it will complete the circle from me being a competitor in LA1984.