An Olympic sport since 1900, the art of archery has been around
much longer.
Although archery probably dates to the Stone Age (20,000 BC), the
earliest known people to have used bows and arrows were the ancient Egyptians, who adopted
archery at least 5,000 years ago for hunting and warfare.
The first known organised competition in archery was held at Finsbury,
England in 1583 and included some 3,000 participants.
With the introduction of gunfire, the bow as weapon came to an end
during the 30 Years War (1618-1648) and archery remained a competitive sport.
The bows have come a long way since those early days and the modern
arrows, made of aluminium and carbon graphite, can travel upwards of 240km/h.
While the advancement in technology has undoubtedly aided the
sportsman, there's still no substitute for the athlete's steely nerves, sharp eyes, steady
hands, strong shoulders and flexible muscles; especially when going for gold.
Although archery appeared on the Olympic Stage in 1900, 1904, 1908 and
1920, international rules had not been sufficiently developed and the sport disappeared
from the Olympics for more than 50 years; eventually making its return at the Olympic
Games, in Munich 1972.
Archery has remained a part of the Olympic programme ever since.
Archers shoot at targets, 1.22 metres in diameter and marked with
10 concentric rings, from 70 metres.
Scoring
Hitting the bullseye, 12.2 centimetres in diameter, counts as 10
points and values for each ring decrease by one the further from the bull, the the outer
ring only being worth one point.
Olympic Events
The four Olympic events comprise of men's and women's individual
and team competitions.
After being ranked from one to 64, the archers, or teams, compete in
head-to-head matches with single elimination.
The gold and silver medals are decided in the final, while the losing
semi-finalists shoot for bronze.
| Men |
Women |
70m Individual
70m Team |
70m Individual
70m Team |
Kim Soo-Nyung
won gold medals in both the individual and team archery events in front of her home crowd
at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.
She then won a silver medal in the individual event at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics and another gold medal in the
team event; to retire at the tender age of 21.
Kim returned to training in 1999 and qualified for the South Korean
Olympic team for the Sydney 2000 Games; winning another
gold in the team event and a bronze in the individual event; taking her Olympic total to 4
gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
            
       
     
FITA:
Av. de Cour 135, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Founded in 1931, the Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc (FITA) is the international
governing body of archery; regulating archery world-wide through its more than 130
Member Associations.
Archery Australia:
The national controlling body for FITA Archery in Australia.
Archery New Zealand:
Archery New Zealand is an Incorporated Society affiliated to FITA (Federation
Internationale de Tir a l'Arc), Oceania Archery Association and the New Zealand Olympic
and Commonwealth Games Association.
COPANARCO:
The Pan-American Archery Federation.
Croatian Archery
Association:
Includes a listing of archery clubs in Croatia.
Dansk Bueskytteforbund:
Danish archery.
European and Mediterranean Archery Union:
Their primary goal is to promote and encourage archery throughout Europe and
Mediterranean.
Federación Chilena De Tiro Con Arco:
Promoting the bow and arrow in Chile.
Federation of Canadian Archers:
FCA is a not for profit national sport governing body dedicated to the promotion of all
types of archery to all Canadians.
Irish
Field Archery Federation:
They've registered a domain name but still use free homepage webspace.
Österreichischer Bogensportverband:
Austrian archery.
The Glade:
International archery magazine with archery
forum.
The Grand National Archery Society:
The governing body for the Olympic sport of archery in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
USA Archery:
News and results for US archers and tournaments.
Olympic
Archery.
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