Archery was the favorite sport of the Egyptian pharaohs during the 18th dynasty (1567-1320 BC). Many centuries later, some of the earliest remarkable archery tournaments took place during the Zhou (Chou) dynasty (1027- 256 BC) in China. Such events accompanied by Chinese society. English writers praised the longbow as a serious boon to their country’s successes in the battles of Crécy, Agincourt and Poitiers. Archery first appeared in the Olympic Games in 1900, was contested again in 1904, 1908 and 1920, then again, after an absence of 52 years, from 1972 to the present. The most decorated archer in Olympic history is Hubert Van Innis of Belgium who played in 1900 and 1920, winning six gold and three silver medals.
Became part of the Olympics:
Archery was first added to the Olympics in 1900. It combined at the 1904, 1908 and 1920 Games, then had a 52-year hiatus from the Olympic Program, one of the first Olympic sports to include women. It was then off the program for somewhat over 50 years. To learn more about why this happened, this archery website spells it out in greater detail.
Archery Came Back:
In 1961, Inger Firth became President of the International Archery Federation. She was the first woman to work as president of an international sports federation and largely through her efforts archery came back to the Olympic program in 1972. At the 2004 Athens Games, the archery events took place in the Panathinaiko Stadium, where the first modern Olympic Games had taken place in 1896.
Play match:
In 1992, head-to-head match play started to make the event a more interesting scene. It greatly improved the sport from a viewer perspective and also helped the sport’s ratings on television.
Current event:
Modern Olympic archery has four events, with men and women playing in both individual and team events. The team event presented at the 1988 Seoul Games for the first time.
Method of the game:
At the Olympic Games, bowmen shoot at targets 70 meters away. The target is 1.22 meters in diameter and marked with 10 concentric rings. Only archers play in head-to-head matches in single elimination after being ranked from 1 to 64 during qualifications. In each match, both archers shoot 12 arrows, and only the winner moves on. Teams are made up of three archers, and team events follow the same competition format as individual events.
Archery at the Summer Olympics:
Archery had its appearance at the 1900 Summer Olympics and had played in 16 Olympiads. Eighty-four nations have played in the Olympic archery events, with France showing the most often at 31 times. The most notable trend has been the excellence of South Korean bowmen, who have won 23 out of 34 gold medals in events since 1984. It administered by the World Archery Federation (WA; formerly FITA). Recurve archery is the only method of archery featured at the Olympic Games. Archery is also an event at the Summer Paralympics.
Greatest Archer in Olympic history:
17 Korean women have won gold medals in Archery, at the Olympics, but one name which is very famous is Kim Soo-Nyung. With four gold medals, silver and bronze, Nyung is the supreme Olympic archer of the new era.
