The lowdown on American archer Mackenzie Brown: She knits, line dances, used to be a competitive swimmer -- backstroke was her specialty -- and shoots arrows while listening to country music to hone her concentration.Then theres this: The 21-year-old from Flint, Texas, may just be the archer to interrupt the dominance of South Korea, the nation thats captured seven of the last eight Olympic gold medals in the womens individual event heading into Rio.Brown certainly has the aim to pull off the feat -- the poise, too.If I go in with the right amount of confidence, Im usually going to do really well, said Brown, whos attempting to become the first U.S. woman to win Olympic gold since Luann Ryon in 1976. Im my biggest competitor when it comes to that.Brown took third at a Rio test event last September at the Sambadrome venue, the iconic stadium designed for the Samba Parade at Carnival. She finished behind winner Choi Misun of South Korea and runner-up Tan Ya-Ting of Chinese Taipei.(The stadium) is really catching to the eye, Brown said. Its going to be a really good venue.Brown will be the lone American woman competing in Rio after teammates Khatuna Lorig and Hye Youn Park narrowly missed making the Olympic squad. Lorig is a big name in archery circles for whats shes accomplished -- she was trying to make her sixth Olympic team -- and for being the one who enhanced the archery skills of actor Jennifer Lawrence for her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.Im just going to do my best and feel like thats going to earn me a medal, Brown said.She grew up a swimmer before being introduced to archery in middle school. From the start, she was talented -- winning tournaments in divisions above her age.I grew up in deep Texas, where all I heard of was bow hunting. I had this image of the movie `Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Thats what I knew about archery, Brown said. Soon, I found out it was so much more. It was something I definitely have a passion for.Typically, she will train to music in order to work on tuning out distractions. When shes not listening to country stars like Garth Brooks or George Strait, shes jamming to Meghan Trainor.Being able to push that (noise) away and focus on what I need to focus on, it becomes a benefit, explained Brown, whose hobby is knitting and makes garments to protect her equipment while traveling. Im just really looking forward to how things turn out.The archery competition starts Aug. 5. Here are some things to know:INSIDE SCOOPArchery targets are set up 70 meters away -- about three-fourths of an American football field -- and feature 10 rings with different point values and colors. For scoring purposes, remember this: Gold is great. White, not as much, and missing altogether even worse.KOREAN COMMANDThe South Koreans have such a deep archery program that defending mens individual champion Oh Jin-Hyek didnt make the squad. Also missing from the team is visually impaired archer Im Dong-hyun, who helped the country to a bronze medal in the team event at the 2012 London Games. On the womens side, Ki Bo-Bae will defend her gold. The South Korean women have also won every gold in the team event since it was included in 1988.BRAZILIAN HOPETeenager Marcus DAlmeida of Brazil is sometimes referred to as Archerys Neymar, because his quick rise to stardom -- much like the soccer great. DAlmeida will be one of the host countrys top medal contenders. The 18-year-old captured a silver medal at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in 2014.AMERICAN MIGHTThe American men have a full team in Brady Ellison, Jake Kaminski and Zach Garrett. Ellison and Kaminski led the U.S. to a silver medal in the team competition at the London Olympics.QUITE AN ACHIEVEMENTZahra Nemati of Iran is scheduled to compete in both the Rio Olympics and Paralympics. The 31-year-old Zahra earned a black belt in taekwondo before she injured her spinal cord in an accident in 2004, according to her profile on Paralympic.org. She took up archery soon after and captured gold at the 2012 London Paralympics in the individual recurve W1/W2. http://www.airmaxscon... . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. [url=http://www.airmaxscontate.it/air-max-90-hyperfuse.html]http://www.airmaxsco... . LOUIS -- Valtteri Filppula assisted on three of Tampa Bays four goals, and the Lightning beat the St. ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Right-hander?Nick Tropeano?has elected to undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his torn ulnar collateral ligament,?Los Angeles Angels?general manager Billy Eppler announced Wednesday.Tropeano opted for surgery after considering more conservative treatments, including stem cell treatments, Eppler said. He will be the second Angels starter this season to have Tommy John surgery.?Andrew Heaney had Tommy John surgery in July, and C.J. Wilson hasnt pitched all season because of various elbow and shoulder injuries and was shut down July 5 to have shoulder surgery.Nick has decided to undergo UCL construction, so he will have Tommy John surgery, Eppler said. Were still working on the date, but that will be in the near future. Right now, hes still deliberating over a couple physicians, and well make that announcement when it comes to light.Also Wednesday, Angels ace Garrett Richards will continue stem cell treatments on his injured elbow after seeing positive results.Richards is still confident that he will not need surgery to repair his torn UCL after he was cleared to begin the next stage in his recovery. An imaging appointment with Los Angeles-based physician Dr. Steve Yoon showed continued healing in the injured ligament.The next course of action now will be to test the elbow and also to put him through some exercises, Eppler said. In about 10 days to 144 days, hell have a follow-up ultrasound, and it will determine if he can pitch.ddddddddddddIf further progress shows in the next round of imaging, Richards will be cleared to start a throwing program. He could potentially face live hitting as soon as September or October. Eppler said they are considering the Arizona Fall League or instructional league, but he will not pitch in a winter league.I think that you still want to have him end this year and go into the winter with the feeling of having some answers, some questions answered, and not having to wonder if he will pitch and so on and so forth in spring training, Eppler said. So I think if we can get him back up on the mound and get him pitching in a competitive environment, I think we would like to see that happen and I think Garrett will as well.Richards echoed Epplers sentiments.I think its a must, I dont think theres any way I can not get into a competitive setting before this season is over, Richards said. I need to get off a mound and throw 90-95 percent for several pitches and full comfortable not only with myself, but make sure that my stuff is still there. Then Ill feel comfortable going into the offseason with what I have going.The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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