MASON CITY - A newspaper clipping, now yellow with age, has been in a sportswriter's file cabinet since 1989.

It tells the story of 13-year-old Mason City archer Vic Wunderle and his bulls' eye hunting sisters, Dawn and Sally, making their debut in Olympic style competition at the Prairie State Games in Champaign.

The clipping recites the tale of their father, Terry, himself a champion archer, introducing his offspring to the sport.

The insurance agent had a bow in his son's hands by age 5. Within a decade the lad was junior world champion.

Flash forward 19 years and we hear the voice of Vic Wunderle on the phone, taking a break from training to talk about his third Olympic Games appearance next month.

"I'm shooting very well," reports the 32-year-old fulltime professional archer. "Some of my tournament results weren't as high early in the year. I was working on different things and trying to become better prepared for the Olympics."

As the 2000 Sydney Olympic individual silver medalist, who suffered a one-point loss in the 2004 Athens Olympic quarterfinals to the eventual gold medalist, Wunderle knows archery is about timing.

Great scores need to be posted at crunch time.

"My good scores are good enough to win the Olympics," said Wunderle in a matter of fact way devoid of ego.

He has held various world, Pan American and national records during a career which has included 30 national titles and eight Pan Am Games medals, six gold.

"I felt four years ago I gave a gold medal performance. I just didn't win the gold medal," said Wunderle, who avenged that loss to Italy's Marco Galliazo in 2005.

A gold in the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Olympics would give Wunderle a medal of each color because he also earned a team bronze medal in 2000.

"(A gold) is a very realistic possibility, but with that said, the way the rounds work, there are a lot of upsets," said the 1994 Illini Central High School graduate.

In the final matches, archers only shoot 12 arrows, which would be like deciding the U.S. Open golf championship based on the results of one hole.

"I have as good a chance as any of the other guys," said Wunderle, who also likes the U.S. chances for a team medal.

"I think we have a stronger team than we did at the Olympics four years ago," he said. "My teammates are shooting very well."

They better be shooting a lot if they hope to keep up with Wunderle, whose training "pretty much absorbs the majority of your day."

Wunderle declined to reveal the specifics of his current training program, but media reports in 2004 put it at 10 hours and 450 arrows per day, six days a week.

"I love what I do," said Wunderle, when asked how he stays motivated. "It certainly makes it a lot easier.

"I usually work on whatever my biggest weakness is. Sometimes I work on the same things for a couple months; sometimes different things each day."

Wunderle, who spends each winter training at the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Archery Club, was on the road 250 days last year either competing or making public appearances and speeches at businesses and schools all over the country.

"It gets to be challenging," he said of the travel. "I probably live out of a bag more than I do anywhere else."

Archery has taken him to more than 40 countries including China, where he has seen the Olympic archery venue.

"It gives me a better feel of what to expect when I get over there," he said. "It gives me something to help out with mental imagery."

Wunderle's father and mother (Jeanne) and sisters and their husbands will be in Beijing to cheer him on. If Chicago wins the right to host the 2012 Olympics, they won't have to travel so far.

"That would be my dream to finish my Olympic career with a gold in Chicago eight years from now," said Wunderle, who doesn't plan to retire from archery anytime soon.

In eight years, this clipping may be used for background information. It will have yellowed, missing gold by several shades.

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Vic Wunderle profile

Age: 32

Olympic team berths: Three

Olympic medals: Two

Pan Am Games medals: Six

National titles: 30