The chance to become one of the youngest World Cup stage winners in history, however, is priceless and O’Donohue has taken the opportunity by the scruff of the neck against the world’s elite.
She goes into tomorrow’s final four with nothing to lose and already an amazing amount of pride – alongside her supporting mother’s – which made her voice tremble from emotion when interviewed in the morning session.
“I tell everyone that archery, anyone can shoot archery, anybody from any sort of background. It’s really about, I think, how you train mentally,” responded the two-time Pan American Youth silver medallist when asked what makes her stand out from her fellow teenage peers at this level. “I know it takes a lot of mental energy to keep pushing and especially with the heat and all the conditions that we go through.”
“All the wind, you really have to just dig deep and be able to keep going. I think there’s been very few [tough moments] just because of how I’ve been trained and how I want to be when I grow up.”
“I try to avoid it as much as possible. I always just keep telling myself it’s just one more arrow. I never focus on the arrows ahead or the arrows that I’ve already shot. I always just keep looking forward.”
What lies between O’Donohue and the gold medal? Only the small matter of current senior world champion Andrea Maya Becerra Arizaga first and then potentially the greatest compound woman of all time, Sara Lopez – the Colombian on course for her 10th World Cup trophy.
If it is Lopez and O’Donohue that make it to the gold medal match, it would present a match-up hardly anyone at the tournament would have wholeheartedly predicted, and one of the most unique, where a youth prodigy faces the ultimate legend of the discipline – a true clash of the future and present.
Not tantalising enough?
The qualification action has now concluded, but archery stays here at the Gloria Sports Arena for this weekend’s finals, which begin tomorrow morning with the compound team gold medal matches.
