Strange but true, archery was never included in the first Greece Olympics. However it is likely that it was part of the Olympics sometime in the past, since the games have been held now for almost 10 centuries. Years when archery started to get included as a sport event in the Olympics were 1900 for men and 1904 for women.
However there was hardly any parity in the Olympics rules those days and after 1920, archery was dropped as an event. The Olympics rules were finally accepted by the participating countries after many years had lapsed and archery made a come back to the games in the Munich games held in 1972. In 1988, team competitions were held in addition to the individual events.
Since 1992, the structure of the game is head-to-head competition amongst 64 top players. Individual for men, individual for women, team for men and team for women are the four events in archery. In the individual events for men and women, players throw 72 arrows at the bull’s eye target standing at a distance of 70 meters which is 229 feel and 8 inches. The time gap between two shots is 40 seconds and the perfect score is 720 with an overtime shot called ’sudden death’ which is allowed in case there is a tie.
Team competitions consist of 16 3-archer teams and as in the individual events, each archer shoots 72 arrows which are shot from a distance of 70 meters. In a tie score, each team member will shoot one arrow and the arrow closest to the center of the target determines the winner. The target has ten rings with one point is scored for an arrow landing in the outermost ring, 2 points for a hit in the next ring, continuing in this manner to the center ring which awards 10 points.
The recurve bow is used Olympic Archery and an arrow shot by this bow travels at more than 150 mph. These technologically advanced bows are made from graphite, wood and fiberglass which stabilize the motion of the arrow which has to travel in a perfect straight line and helps the archer to aim perfect. With strings made from hydrocarbon or from Kelvar and the arrows from aluminum or carbon graphite the cost of the equipment is close to 00.
Olympic archers usually would undergo training for ten years. One should be in impeccable form to participate. Then one has to have a good coach and the correct equipment. Fortunately, archery is much less expensive to pursue than many other sports. You would do well to read, study, talk to other archers, then attend and compete in local and national tournaments but most important of all is too practice, practice, practice.
This sport is open to even athletes suffering from some disabilities. 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. Being a family-oriented activity, this sport can be enjoyed for a lifetime.
