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Anderson first developed a love for bows and arrows after the first of his two accidents.
“My son wanted to try archery,” the 51-year-old explained.
“We went into an archery shop, got a bow, he shot an arrow and I said to the owner ‘I want to shoot too’ but they said I couldn’t.
“I don’t believe in the word ‘can’t’.
“So finally, I figured out how to shoot, and the rest is history.”
Six months later, he won his first medal at an indoor competition in South Africa organized by the International Field Archery Association.
“When people tell me I can’t do something, I love proving them wrong.
“I’ve always been good at sports, I’ve always loved sports. Sports were my savior.”
Five years later, Anderson competed in the men’s individual compound archery event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, an event in which archers can compete standing, sitting on a stool or using a wheelchair.
Despite losing his first match in the round of 32, he was very proud of his experience.
“I didn’t participate in the Paralympics based on my looks,” he joked.
“My family and I have worked so hard for this and made so many sacrifices. I mean, financially we have made huge sacrifices, we have had to give up a lot of things in order for me to get to this point.”
Anderson’s Rio Olympic plans were almost disrupted because he suddenly suffered a colon rupture on the eve of the Olympics, suspected to be a sequelae of painkillers taken after a motorcycle accident.
On the eve of his second Paralympic Games, he suffered further trauma when his father died of COVID-19 just weeks before the Tokyo Paralympics began.
“I think it put more pressure on me,” Anderson recalled excitedly. “I really wanted to do this for him.”
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