A History of Olympic Archery.

Archery is the art of using a bow to propel an arrow, an activity that originated from hunting. Nowadays, archery is typically a competitive or recreational activity. The use of bow and arrow dates back to 10,000 BC - however archery was not officially recognised as a sport until the 1840’s. So, when did archery first appear in the olympics? 

When did archery first appear in the olympic games?

Archery was first introduced in the 1900 Paris Olympics Games. The rules of archery were not formal, nor universal - therefore each competing country developed their own standards. The first official set of standardised rules were not created until 1931.

The Olympic Games provided archery events for men in 1900, 1904, 1908 & 1920 and for women in 1904 & 1908. These events were suspended until the 1972 Olympic Games and the sport was reintroduced for both men and women - continuing to this day.

World championships have been held on a biennial basis since 1931 and in order to improve archery as a spectator sport - in 1985, a new championship round known as the grand FITA round was introduced, with single-elimination matches. In 1988, the grand FITA round made it’s first Olympic Games debut. In 1992, the FITA Olympic round was introduced - consisting of head-to-head, single elimination matches.

Since 1992, no significant changes have been made to the competition rules. Small amendments have been made to the qualification/elimination rounds - changes to the amount of arrows, shooting sequence and the shooting time limit were all incorporated into the individual events over the many years.

What does Olympic Archery involve?

To succeed at archery, you must have a keen eye and steady hands. A competitive archer will face a target 70 metres away and fire arrows at incredible speeds - sometimes up to 240 kilometres per hour. A target consist of concentric circles, which separates the target into ten different scoring zones and the centre or “bullseye” is worth the most amount of points. In an average match, each archer will shoot 12 “ends” or “rounds” of six arrows each.

Currently, the only bow style accepted in the Olympics is the recurve. The recurve bow can be traced all the way back to 1200 BC, however the design was far more primitive than it is now. The recurve has limbs that curve away from the archer at the ends, thus its name the “re-curve”.

Unlike other bow styles, the recurve is super adaptable and can be broken down into three parts when unstrung - for easy transportation.