Olympic Archery - London 2012

The FITA 70m Round is used to rank the individual archers and to qualify the teams (max 16 qualify). The Olympic Round allows 64 participants for the women's competition and 64 participants for the men's competition (qualified at FITA World Championships and other Qualifying Tournaments).

There will be a minimum of 9 teams for the men and the women (8 that qualified at the World Championships, the home country), plus any country that qualifies 3 archers of the same gender for the Olympic Games.

Each elimination and final round consists of a head-to-head match from which the winner advances to the next round. The matches for individual and team elimination rounds are drawn by a match-play table, which is based on the ranking of the FITA 70m Round.

The individual competition consists of elimination rounds (1/32nd, 1/16th, 1/8th) and finals round (quarterfinals, semifinals, finals for bronze medal and gold medal).

The team competition consists of elimination rounds (1/8th, 1/4th) and finals round (semifinals, finals for bronze medal and gold medal). Teams consist of 3 athletes of the same gender and country.

Venue: Lord's Cricket Ground

* Olympic archers use the recurve bow, which features limbs that curve away from archer to increase power.
* The effect is that arrows are propelled in excess of 150 miles per hour.
* Bows generally are constructed of wood, fiberglass and graphite or carbon composites.
* Bows have stabilizers to reduce torque (twisting) in the arrows upon release.
* Bows have sights to aid in aiming and arrow rests to help align the shot.
* Most strings are made of Fast Flight, a hydrocarbon product, or kevlar, the material used to make bulletproof vests.
* Arrows are made of aluminum or carbon graphite.
* Equipment costs (bow, arrows, accessories) will normally be over $1000

Rules of Archery: There are various rules which are strictly followed during the archery competitions. The main rules of the archery competitions are as follows-

• Crossbow is not allowed to be used during shooting a target in the archery competition. any other bow is allowed.


• Arrows should be thrown at the target only after the signal has been given to shoot.


• The archers have to mark their arrows so that they could be identified after the arrow has been shot.


• The archer is permitted only six attempts at a specific target. If he shoots more than six arrows at a target, the lowest six shots are taken in consideration. The arrow shot at any other target is also not considered for the archer's score.


• When an arrow falls from the bow in such a manner that it cannot be touched with the bow from the shooting line is considered to be a shot.


• The archers are bound to follow a certain sequence during the archery competition. They should shoot from the longest distance first, and then come closer to the target.



• Sequences of distances fixed for the men's archery competition are - 90 meter (300 feet), 70 meter (230 feet), 50 meter (165 feet) and 30 meter (100 feet). The sequence of distances for the women's competition is 70 meter (230 feet), 60 meter (around 180 feet), 50 meter (165 feet) and 30 meter (around 90 feet).


• Scores in the archery competition are recorded in descending order, from the highest score to the lowest score.


• No archer can retrieve shot arrows until the signal is given to do so.


• The time scheduled for a single FITA (Federation International de Tir al Arc) round is one or two days.

The Olympic games in 1900 Paris was the first appearance of archery. 7 events in varying distances were contested. The next Olympics in 1904 St. Louis had 5 archery events but no athletes from outside the United States competed. At the 1908 Summer Olympics, there were 3 archery events. Archery was not featured at the 1912 Summer Olympics but reappeared in the 1920 Summer Olympics.

Between 1920 and 1972, archery was not contested at the Olympic games. The archery competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich consisted of two events - men's individual and women's individual. This form of competition was held until the 1988 Summer Olympics, when team competition was added. Starting at the 1992 Summer Olympics head-to-head matches were adopted, and has been used ever since.

1972 saw the beginning of the modern archery competition at the Olympic Games. The events began to use standardized forms and many nations competed. Qualification spots in archery are allotted to National Olympic Committees rather than to individual athletes.

Scoring The circular target has a series of ten concentric rings around a solid gold center, or "bull's-eye." Ranging outward from the bull's eye, the colors of the rings are red, blue, black, and white. The rings are assigned point values for arrows shot into them ranging from 10 for a bull's-eye to 1 point for an arrow in the outer white ring. Striking the target dead-center is somewhat like standing on the goal line of a football field and hitting an apple under the opposite goal post.

Facts about Archery

• In the 14th century, Archery was considered so important to the defence of the nation that an English law made it compulsory for every man aged between seven and 60.


• Even late starters can become elite bowmen. One British 2012 hopeful decided to take up Archery in a bid to experience the London Games as a competing athlete. m.


• The first known Archery competition was organised in Finsbury, London, in 1583. It attracted 3,000 participants.


• Hollywood actress Geena Davis took part in US trials for the Sydney 2000 Olympic team.

Jargon buster

• Boss: the name for an Archery target.


• Nock: To place an arrow on a bow string.


• Robin Hood: describes a shot that splits the shaft of an arrow already in the target.


• Spotter: An official scorer who uses a telescope to identify the arrow's exact position.


• Bowman: An archer.

Medal Winners in Archery: America and Korea has been dominating the field of Olympic archery since its inclusion in the Olympic schedule. Some famous archers in the history of Olympics are Darrell Pace, Tomi Poikolainen, Jay Barrs, Justin Huish, Simon Fairweather, Marco Galiazzo, Richard McKinney, Magnus Petersson, Vic Wunderle, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Tim Cuddihy, Wietse van Alten, Oh Kyo-Moon, Giancarlo Ferrari, Doreen Wilber, Kim Soo-Nyung, Yun Mi-Jin, Park Sung Hyun, Lee Sung Jin, Kim Nam-Soon, He Ying, Li Lingiuan, Natalia Valeeva, Olena Sadovnycha and Alison Williamson.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by Roger Nolan

How to play - and win The Paralympic Games Archery competition consists of Standing and Wheelchair events for both individuals and teams.

Paralympic archers shoot arrows at a target from a distance of 70m. They aim to score points by hitting the target as close to the centre as possible.

Archery at the Games Archery has been included in the Games programme since it was introduced to the world as a Paralympic sport in Rome 1960.

Just as in the Olympic Games, the Korean team has established itself as the one to beat.

Facts about Paralympic Archery

• Spain's Antonio Rebollo shot Paralympic Archery into the big time by famously firing a flaming arrow to light the Olympic Flame at the Opening Ceremony for the Barcelona 1992 Games.
• The competition procedures and rules for Paralympic Archery are nearly identical to those used in able-bodied competition.
• Competition arrows are made of carbon graphite with an inner tube of aluminium.

Precision Archery [Paperback]