大象传媒

Thunder and lightning, deafening chants from raucous spectators, torrential storms and, in the end, tears.

I had no idea archery could be like this.

Midway through the afternoon, word had whistled round the Brits in Beijing that Alison Williamson, Naomi Folkard and Charlotte Burgess were within touching-distance of GB's first medal of these Olympics.

In their way stood China. And that's where the trouble started.

You could hear the stadium almost before you could see it. Packed into the steeply-sided stands were thousands of headband-wearing, face-painted China fans, knee-deep in an ear-splitting shout-off with the thousands of South Korea fans who filled almost every other seat.

You could have forgiven the British trio if they'd taken one step onto the narrow v-shaped field for the semi-final and then fled for their lives.

Drums were beating. Flags were waving. Songs were being sung with such gusto that the sickly sounds of Shania Twain coming over the PA system were completely drowned out.

The only Briton visible in the stands was BOA chairman Colin Moynihan, and only then because there was a small child sitting in front of him.

Williamson, however, is made from stern stuff. This was her fifth appearance at an Olympics, and initially she and her young team-mates matched the home favourites point for point.

Folkard, a dead-eyed former music student, led the way with a perfect 10 into the gold with her first arrow. Burgess, who wears the same lucky pair of socks for every competition, ignored the gusting winds to keep Britain in it after 12 of the 24 shots.

Every arrow that China landed, meanwhile, was greeted by roars of delight from the partisan crowd.

Juanjuan Zhang, pulling the bowstring tight into her right cheek, began to pile on the pressure as the first rumble of thunder sounded overhead.

As the third end developed, the Brits began to waver. With the wind rising in strength, Folkard fired in a six and grimaced in frustration. Williamson followed that with a seven before Burgess did the same.

The crowd smelt blood. Ling Cheng landed an eight, Dan Guo a 10 as the rain began to fall. When Zhang sent her arrow soaring the 70 metres into the outer gold ring for a nine, the British dream of a gold medal match against the Koreans began to fade.

Still, you thought - there was always the bronze up for grabs. And with opponents France having qualified only fifth compared to Britain's second, it was still odds-on that the girls would soon be celebrating GB's first Beijing medal.

At that point, the sky turned black. Lightning crackled down in fearsome jags, thunder exploding overhead. Rain smashed down in bucket-sized lumps.

Forked lightning and long bows made from carbon not being a great combination, the archers ran for cover.

Small lakes appeared on the in-field. The rest of Olympic Green disappeared in the grey murk until the only thing visible were the floodlights overhead.

The fans simply donned the free plastic ponchos being dished out by the uber-efficient organisers and carried on as noisily as before.

That's the way it stayed for almost an hour. In that time, news came through of Nicole Cooke's soggy triumph a few miles away across the sodden city.

Right. So the archers weren't going to win Britain's first medal. They weren't going to win a gold or silver. But the French were still there to be beaten, non?

From the very first arrow it was knee-knockingly close. Burgess wobbled with a six but was rescued by Williamson's 9. France went seven, eight, nine to give Britain a slender lead of 48-46 a quarter of the way through.

Suddenly the French archers began to find their range. Berengere Schuh pinged in a 10, Virginie Arnold and Sophie Dodemont a nine apiece.

97-97 at halfway.

Folkard straightened out her floppy blue sunhat and hit back with a 10. Burgess followed suit. France matched them nervelessly. 125-125.

Folkard fired off an eight into the inner red ring. Williamson, her eyes shaded by a low-slung golf visor, drifted left and picked up just a seven. Burgess buried hers in the outer gold for a vital nine.

Unfortunately, the French trio were accelerating. They went 9, 8, 8 to move into the lead for the first time, and then stretched their lead to three points with just three arrows remaining per team as Arnold nailed an inner gold, screamed with delight and high-fived her team-mates.

Williamson, who gave up her job as a primary school teacher to concentrate on these Olympics, then somehow produced a 10 with her final arrow to leave France 25 points from the bronze.

The crowd howled with excitement. Moynihan shifted in his seat. The rain started up again.

It made no difference. Schuh, blinking behind her glasses, picked off an eight when seven would have done, and suddenly it was over.

No first medal. No national anthem. No big headlines in the papers back home.

Afterwards, both Williamson and Folkard were in tears, even as the stadium rocked to the sound of Korea dismantling China in an epic final.

Williamson seemed to be blaming herself, saying she had let the side down even if her team-mates tried telling her different.

Two points were all that separated them from the podium at the end. But when you've gone for gold and ended up with nothing there's very little consolation to be had.