Olympics Archery

Olympics Archery debuted in the 1900 Olympics game in Paris. Olympics archery for the men's was started in 1900. After a gap of four years the archery for the women's was also introduced. It was next held in the years 1904, 1908 and 1920. Initially the games varied widely as each host nation followed its own format. The Olympics archery events were dropped after a while as there was no standardization.

The Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc (FITA), is the governing body of Olympics archery. It was established in 1931 and it formulated certain rules for the event. These new rules were adopted by the countries and archery was back in the games in 1972 in Munich. In the first few years there were only individual events while team competition was started from 1988.

There are four Olympics archery events that are held at present. These are: Men's Individual, Women's Individual, Men's Team and Women's Team. The archers in the games use the recurve bow that has limbs that curve outside so as to increase power. The bows are made of wood, graphite and fiberglass. These are equipped with stabilizers to tone down torque in the arrows after these are released. The strings in the bows are composed of fast flight or kevlar. The arrows are made of carbon graphite or aluminum

Initially the archers shot a double FITA round comprising a round of 288 arrows. The Olympics Archery championship was decided by the highest score. From the 1992 Olympics however the format of the game was changed and the head-to-head elimination for the first 64 competitors was introduced.

The format of both men's and women's Olympics archery competition is the same. There is a ranking round. This is followed by FITA Olympics round. For the ranking round the archers have to shoot 72 arrows at a target which is placed 70 meters away. The Olympic round comprises the eliminations and the final round. Six ends of three arrows are placed 70 meters away. In the semi final and the final rounds the archer has to shoot four ends of three arrows. The contestants who lose in the semi finals play for the bronze while the inners aspire for the gold medal.

The team competition in Olympics archery follows the same format as in the individual competition. 1984 was an important year for archery in Olympics. There were a lot of spectators to witness the match. The new found interest in the game has led to remarkable improvement in the technique as well as the equipment of the game. Archery has now become a world class game. During the 1992 Olympics Antonio Rebollo of Spain lighted the Olympic torch by shooting an arrow. Olympics archery has become more advanced and is one of the most popular Olympics sports events.

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