OLYMPIC ARCHERY

Archery first appeared as a sport in the 1900 Olympics Games in Paris and was held at the Games of 1904, 1908 and 1920. However, international rules had not yet been developed and each host country used its own format. As a result, archery events in these early Olympic Games varied widely. Because of the lack of uniform international rules archery was then dropped from the Olympic Games. The Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc (FITA), the international governing body of the sport, was founded in 1931 and implemented standardized rules for competition. It allowed the first World Championship to be held that same year. After countries adopted the new rules, archery returned to the 1972 Games in Munich. Initially, only individual competition took place - the team competition was added in 1988. Early Archery Shoot There are four archery events held at the Olympics: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team and Women's Team. Archers used to shoot a double FITA round of 288 total arrows, with the championship decided by the highest total score. In an effort to make the sport more exciting, the format was changed to head-to-head elimination for the top 64 competitors beginning with the 1992 Olympics. Individual Competition * The format of the men's and women's individual competition is the same and consists of a ranking round followed by the FITA Olympics round. * In the ranking round, archers shoot 72 arrows at a target 70 meters (229 feet, 8 inches) away in 12 ends of six arrows each. A perfect score is 720. * The same set of shots is used to seed teams for the team competitions. * The FITA Olympic round is divided into the elimination round and the finals round. * The 64 competitors, seeded from the ranking round, advance to the elimination round, a single-elimination, head-to-head style of competition (seed No. 64 vs. seed No. 1, 63 vs. 2, etc). * Six ends of three arrows -- for a total of 18 -- are shot at a target 70 meters away with a 40-second time limit per arrow. * Winners of each match move on to the next round. * The finals round is held when the field has been narrowed to eight archers. * It begins with the quarterfinals and continues with the semifinals and final. * In the semifinal and final rounds, archers shoot four ends of three arrows each -- for a total of 12 -- with a 40-second time limit per arrow. * The losers of the semifinals shoot in the bronze medal match and the two winners shoot in the gold medal final. * Ties are broken with a "sudden death" overtime. * Each archer shoots one arrow and the highest score wins. * If tied, a second arrow is shot for highest score. * If still tied, a single closest-to-the-center arrow determines the winner. * Archers have 50 seconds to shoot each tiebreaking arrow. Team Competition * The format of the men's and women's team competition is the same and consists of the ranking round, followed by the FITA Olympic round. * In the ranking round, archers shoot 72 arrows at a target 70 meters (229 feet, 8 inches) away in 12 ends of six arrows each. A perfect score is 720. * The same set of shots is used to seed competitors in the individual competitions as well. * In the men's and women's competitions, the top 16 teams -- seeded from the ranking round -- are selected using scores from the ranking round. * If there are less than 16 teams, the top teams will be given byes. * Each team consists of three archers. * In all matches in the team event, each team shoots three ends of nine arrows each with each archer on the team shooting one end. * Each of the three archers is required to finish their end within three minutes. * Only one archer of the team shoots at a time. * When the first archer finishes shooting his end, the second archer starts. The third shooter follows the second one. * The arrows are scored and pulled after each team shoots nine arrows. * The winners of each match move to the next round. * The first round or eighth-finals consists of 16 teams on the line shooting in eight matches. * The second round or quarterfinals consists of the eight winning teams shooting at the same time in four matches. * In the semifinal round, the four winning teams meet. * The losers of the semifinals shoot for the bronze medal. * The winners shoot for the gold. * If tied, each archer from each team shoots one arrow. * The closest of the three arrows to the center for each team will be compared to the closest-to-the-center arrow of the other team to break the tie. * Only one archer from each team shoots at a time. Scoring * The scoring system is based on a 10-ring target. * Each section of the target is worth from one to 10 points, with 10 being the best. * Arrows on the dividing lines are given the higher score and deflections score where they land. * Arrows that bounce off the target or pass through are also counted. * The target face is set 70 meters (229 feet, 8 inches) from the shooting line and the center gold of the target is set 130 centimeters (4 feet, 3 inches) above the ground. * The target is usually made of paper and has a diameter of 122 centimeters (4 feet). * The target is divided into five colored rings and each ring is divided in half. * The width of each color zone is 12.2 (4.8 inches) centimeters and the width of each scoring zone -- half of a color zone -- is 6.1 (2.4 inches) centimeters. * The rings and the corresponding point values are as follows (from innermost to outermost): Gold inner 10 points Olympic Target Gold outer 9 points Red inner 8 points Red outer 7 points Blue inner 6 points Blue outer 5 points Black inner 4 points Black outer 3 points White inner 2 points White outer 1 point Equipment * 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