Clemmer and Richard capture doubles gold at 2023 Pan American Games
November 02, 2023
RESULTS AND INFORMATION
SANTIAGO, Chile – Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, and Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, authored a gold-medal performance during the women’s doubles event on Thursday’s opening day of bowling competition at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Clemmer shrugged off a slow start and paced the American effort with an eight-game total of 1,669 (189, 166, 238, 228, 213, 203, 205 and 227), which was good enough for a 208.63 average and the top score of the day among female athletes at Plaza Vespucio Centro de Bowling.
Richard wasn’t far behind, contributing a score of 1,605 (a 200.63 average) thanks to games of 209, 193, 205, 178, 217, 171, 206 and 226.
Those numbers put Clemmer and Richard 175 pins ahead of Colombia’s Clara Guerrero and Juliana Franco, who earned the silver medal with an eight-game total of 3,099, and 192 pins clear of the 3,082 bronze-medal score turned in by Mexico’s Iliana Lomeli and Sandra Gongora.
Although Team USA bowlers strive to reach the top of the podium in every event that they bowl, most will tell you that medals earned while bowling with partners always mean just that much more.
As such, both Clemmer and Richard were thrilled with Thursday’s doubles victory.
“Doubles is what we wanted to medal in more than anything here, so I think it’s awesome that we started off this way,” Clemmer said. “Doing this with Jordan (Richard) made this really special. It feels amazing.”
Richard’s take was largely the same.
“Doubles is the medal that we come here for, so to win it makes what we accomplished today that much more meaningful,” Richard said.
Another aspect that made Thursday’s victory special was the fact that it came during Clemmer and Richard’s first time competing in the Pan American Games.
Despite having bowled for Team USA for several years, neither Clemmer nor Richard had earned the right to don the red, white and blue at this prestigious tournament until now.
Understandably, that fueled their desire to win even more.
“Winning here is definitely a different type of feeling,” Clemmer said. “Obviously, Jordan and I have both won gold medals before, but I think this one is a little bit more special because this is the biggest stage we’ll be on for bowling. I can’t really describe it; it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Richard didn’t spend as much time discussing how it felt to win; instead, she wanted to make sure everyone knew how it felt getting there.
“It was hard, it was hard and it was hard,” Richard wryly stated when discussing Thursday’s block on the tournament’s challenging 43-foot oil pattern. “That’s why communication was so important between me, Breanna (Clemmer) and Bryan (Team USA Head Coach Bryan O’Keefe).
“Everything just kind of flows together. He picks up on more than we pick up on, and we talk through things together so that there are never any blind guesses about what to do on the lanes. You never feel like you’re left out when you’re struggling, so I think that’s really key to what works with the three of us.”
O’Keefe attempted to work the same magic when Team USA’s Brandon Bonta and A.J. Johnson took to the lanes Thursday afternoon for men’s doubles competition.
Unfortunately, despite the trio’s best efforts, the American men were unable to match the success of their female counterparts.
Bonta and Johnson finished the day in ninth place with an eight-game total of 3,171.
Johnson led the way with a 1,645 (a 205.63 average) total thanks to five games of 200 or better (211, 225, 225, 225 and 204).
Bonta started strong, firing a 267 during Game 1; unfortunately, the Team USA rookie would only break 200 once more on the day – he shot 224 during Game 4 – en route to an eight-game score of 1,526 (a 190.75 average).
The Americans’ absence from the podium opened the door for some new contenders, and two teams walked right through and collected their countries’ first ever Pan American Games bowling medals.
For Panama, that first medal was gold as the duo of Donald Lee and William Duen topped the field with an eight-game score of 3,511.
Canadians Francois Lavoie and Mitch Hupe took silver with 3,435, which left the bronze for Juan Rodriguez and Marco Moretti, who put up a mark of 3,430 to help Costa Rica win its first ever Pan American Games bowling medal.
With doubles competition completed, the focus will now shift to singles, which will begin with men’s qualifying Friday morning starting at 7 a.m. Eastern. Women’s singles qualifying will follow at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Competitors will then bowl an additional eight games of qualifying on Saturday before the field is cut to the top four bowlers in each division.
Those semifinalists will square off Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern in a match-play format that will see the No. 1 seed battle the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed take on No. 3. The first bowler to win two games – of a possible three – in each match will advance to the finals to bowl one game for the gold medal while those who fall during semifinal competition will earn bronze.
For more information on Team USA, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSA.
SANTIAGO, Chile – Breanna Clemmer of Clover, South Carolina, and Jordan Richard of Tipton, Michigan, authored a gold-medal performance during the women’s doubles event on Thursday’s opening day of bowling competition at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
Clemmer shrugged off a slow start and paced the American effort with an eight-game total of 1,669 (189, 166, 238, 228, 213, 203, 205 and 227), which was good enough for a 208.63 average and the top score of the day among female athletes at Plaza Vespucio Centro de Bowling.
Richard wasn’t far behind, contributing a score of 1,605 (a 200.63 average) thanks to games of 209, 193, 205, 178, 217, 171, 206 and 226.
Those numbers put Clemmer and Richard 175 pins ahead of Colombia’s Clara Guerrero and Juliana Franco, who earned the silver medal with an eight-game total of 3,099, and 192 pins clear of the 3,082 bronze-medal score turned in by Mexico’s Iliana Lomeli and Sandra Gongora.
Although Team USA bowlers strive to reach the top of the podium in every event that they bowl, most will tell you that medals earned while bowling with partners always mean just that much more.
As such, both Clemmer and Richard were thrilled with Thursday’s doubles victory.
“Doubles is what we wanted to medal in more than anything here, so I think it’s awesome that we started off this way,” Clemmer said. “Doing this with Jordan (Richard) made this really special. It feels amazing.”
Richard’s take was largely the same.
“Doubles is the medal that we come here for, so to win it makes what we accomplished today that much more meaningful,” Richard said.
Another aspect that made Thursday’s victory special was the fact that it came during Clemmer and Richard’s first time competing in the Pan American Games.
Despite having bowled for Team USA for several years, neither Clemmer nor Richard had earned the right to don the red, white and blue at this prestigious tournament until now.
Understandably, that fueled their desire to win even more.
“Winning here is definitely a different type of feeling,” Clemmer said. “Obviously, Jordan and I have both won gold medals before, but I think this one is a little bit more special because this is the biggest stage we’ll be on for bowling. I can’t really describe it; it hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Richard didn’t spend as much time discussing how it felt to win; instead, she wanted to make sure everyone knew how it felt getting there.
“It was hard, it was hard and it was hard,” Richard wryly stated when discussing Thursday’s block on the tournament’s challenging 43-foot oil pattern. “That’s why communication was so important between me, Breanna (Clemmer) and Bryan (Team USA Head Coach Bryan O’Keefe).
“Everything just kind of flows together. He picks up on more than we pick up on, and we talk through things together so that there are never any blind guesses about what to do on the lanes. You never feel like you’re left out when you’re struggling, so I think that’s really key to what works with the three of us.”
O’Keefe attempted to work the same magic when Team USA’s Brandon Bonta and A.J. Johnson took to the lanes Thursday afternoon for men’s doubles competition.
Unfortunately, despite the trio’s best efforts, the American men were unable to match the success of their female counterparts.
Bonta and Johnson finished the day in ninth place with an eight-game total of 3,171.
Johnson led the way with a 1,645 (a 205.63 average) total thanks to five games of 200 or better (211, 225, 225, 225 and 204).
Bonta started strong, firing a 267 during Game 1; unfortunately, the Team USA rookie would only break 200 once more on the day – he shot 224 during Game 4 – en route to an eight-game score of 1,526 (a 190.75 average).
The Americans’ absence from the podium opened the door for some new contenders, and two teams walked right through and collected their countries’ first ever Pan American Games bowling medals.
For Panama, that first medal was gold as the duo of Donald Lee and William Duen topped the field with an eight-game score of 3,511.
Canadians Francois Lavoie and Mitch Hupe took silver with 3,435, which left the bronze for Juan Rodriguez and Marco Moretti, who put up a mark of 3,430 to help Costa Rica win its first ever Pan American Games bowling medal.
With doubles competition completed, the focus will now shift to singles, which will begin with men’s qualifying Friday morning starting at 7 a.m. Eastern. Women’s singles qualifying will follow at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Competitors will then bowl an additional eight games of qualifying on Saturday before the field is cut to the top four bowlers in each division.
Those semifinalists will square off Sunday at 9 a.m. Eastern in a match-play format that will see the No. 1 seed battle the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed take on No. 3. The first bowler to win two games – of a possible three – in each match will advance to the finals to bowl one game for the gold medal while those who fall during semifinal competition will earn bronze.
For more information on Team USA, visit BOWL.com/TeamUSA.