Who is Jordan White? All about the youngest member of Team USA at the Paris Paralympics

Para archers Jordan White and Eric Bennett have begun their recurve archery campaign at the Paris Paralympics 2024 on a decent note. White scored 580 to finish 27th, while his senior compatriot Bennett scored 602 to finish 21st overall. The two will now face Suresh Selvathamby of Malaysia and Lukasz Ciszek of Poland in the Round of 32, respectively.

Jordan White is also the youngest archer representing Team USA at the Paralympics. He is accompanied by veteran para archer Eric Bennett, aged 50. Bennett is representing the USA for the fifth consecutive time in recurve archery at the Paralympics, with his first appearance coming at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. Bennett was born in 1973, while White was born in the year the former made his Paralympics debut.

Interestingly, Eric Bennett has another feather to his cap. Very few people know that he was also a former physics teacher of current Olympic silver medalist and champion archer Brady Ellison.

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Jordan White's parents and early life

Jordan White was born on November 26, 2008, at Cedar Park in Texas. He was born with a rare disability: his right leg was shorter than his left leg. Not much is known about his parents, except that they support his passion for archery.

His mother accompanies him to every competition and is an archery coach. White's father built an archery range near their home in Cedar Park, Texas, where he could practice to his liking.

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Jordan White's early achievements

Jordan White in practice [Image Source: Jordan White's Instagram]

It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that Jordan White found his footing in recurve archery. Jordan was quoted as saying, as per USA Archery:

"During COVID-19, we wanted to find something which allowed us to get out of the house, and still stay safe. So we decided to try out archery. I was a little bit hesitant at first because I really didn't understand target archery well, but after I tried it out, I loved it."

By 2022, when he was only 14 years old, Jordan White was a professional archer. He met Mark Martinez at the YMCA in Texas, who eventually became his first coach. It was Martinez who inspired Jordan White to go for recurve archery.

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Jordan White's chances at the Paris Paralympics

Jordan White will first face Lukasz Ciszek of Poland in the Round of 32, starting on September 4. All the other rounds of recurve archery at the Paris Paralympics will be organized on the same day. Jordan White booked his ticket to Paris by winning a quota through the Paralympic trials held in the USA.

Jordan White expressed excitement as well as nervousness ahead of his campaign. As quoted by worldarchery.sport, he said:

"I'm in a strange state, where I know I'm going to Paris and I'm excited about it, but I still can't believe it. When I factor in that I'm accomplishing this at only 15, I can't even comprehend that. I'm going to keep doing my thing, shooting my bow and everything will work out alright."

Jordan White is currently ranked 87th per the world rankings. His best ranking before that was around 67th. The journey to a Paralympic medal won't be a cakewalk. However, lest we forget, Lisa Barbelin of France, who was ranked 30th at the Paris Olympics in the same discipline, denied South Korea a chance to sweep the podium in women's recurve archery by winning the bronze medal.