The 2023 Pacific Games silver medallist would not have reached Paris “without a doubt” had it not been for his mother, who he helped as a 12-year-old in her Greek home food catering business.
Boukouvalas was able to finally tell her, the person who had rooted for him since day one, that the hard work had not been for nothing following the third stage of the 2024 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Antalya.
Australia’s selection for their two Olympic quotas (one man, one woman) was decided by archers who scored the highest average across four international competitions. Antalya was the last of these tournaments and it was far from guaranteed for Boukouvalas.
The Sydney local, who is also studying an emergency management degree, had been suffering with an injury in his drawing arm in Türkiye and was ill the previous week, contributing to his miss at getting in the required top 64 for matches as he shot 655 in the 720-arrow ranking round.
It meant Boukouvalas had to rely on Rio 2016 men’s team bronze medallist Ryan Tyack to score a lower average in matchplay, which to Tyack’s detriment, he did.
“Shortly after that I called Mum, and I told her that I had it,” said Boukouvalas, who diligently recorded every other male Australian archer’s score on a spreadsheet throughout the process. “She was very funny because she said ‘I’m so proud of you. I’m always proud of you, but I’m just a little bit extra proud of this time. And yes, I knew you could do it.’ So that was cool.”
His dream in Paris came to a soon close, however, after losing to eventual men’s bronze medallist and men’s team gold medallist Lee Woo Seok in the first round, in straight sets.
Boukouvalas admitted that his shooting experience in France was poor, having issues with his sight as well as saying he “forgot respecting the pressure” of an Olympic crowd which had six and a half thousand vociferous fans packed in Les Invalides.
He has called his eight-year long drive an “unhealthy obsession”, which ultimately ended in early disappointment. However, Boukouvalas two months on from his Games experience still has his head held high.
