Archery History

Archery History

Incredible as it may sound, archery as a sports event was never heard of during the first Olympics in Greece. During the course of the 1000-year history of the Olympics, this event could have been included sometime in the past. The 1900 Olympics saw archery for men as an event for the first time and the women\’s event began in 1904.

There were too many disparities in the Olympics rules those early years and after 1920, archery was dropped as an event. While a lot of time went by before the international rules and guidelines of the Olympics was agreed upon by the participating countries, it took till 1972 when archery returned as a sport event during the Munich Olympics. In 1988, team competitions were held in addition to the individual events.

The structure of the event from 1992 is head-on competition amongst the top 64 sportsmen. The four events in archery include one each for men and women individual events and one each for men and women in teams. Men and women in the individual events aim to hit the bull\’s eye distance of 70 meters which is 229 feel and 8 inches and they throw 72 arrows. Each shot must be made within a 40-second time limit with a perfect score being 720 and a \’sudden death\’ overtime shot is then made in the event of a tie.

The team events comprise of 3 archers making a team and there are 16 such teams where each archer has to shoot 72 arrows and the distance covered is 70 meters like the individual events. How the winner is declared when there is a tie in score? The target consists of 10 rings where 1 point is awarded if the outermost ring is hit, 2 points for the next ring and ultimately 10 points are awarded if the center of target is hit.

The bow used in Olympic archery event is recurve bow and any arrow shot from this type of bow gathers a speed of 150 mph. These technologically evolved bows are made from wood, fiberglass and graphite which have a stabilizing effect on the arrows which would travel in a straight line which helps in aiming better. Hydrocarbon product is the material used to make the strings or they are from Kelvar and the arrows are made with aluminum or carbon graphite with the total cost of the equipment going up to 00.

Participants for the Olympics archery events usually undergo training for about ten years. Every player has to be in superb form during participation. An aspirant would also need the guidance of an excellent coach and the right equipment too. Archery by any standards is less pricey than other sports and that is good news. To master the art, you should get coaching, study and talk to other archers and then gradually develop expertise from local and national events but never forget to practice diligently.

Athletes with disabilities can also indulge in archery as a sport. In this regard, Neroli Fairhall, a woman paraplegic from New Zealand was the first such participant in the Olympics and became a gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games too. This is also a sport that people can continue with for much of their lives and enjoy with their families.  For More Information on Archery History, please check back as we update our content regularly

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