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As a sport, archery has been at the core of the Olympic programme for decades now, having made its first appearance at the world’s biggest sporting event more than a century ago. read more
 "Archery - history, rules, defending champions")
Deepika Kumari will be among the Indian archers in action at the Paris Olympics. PTI
Archery lost its relevance in warfare as well as in hunting towards the end of the previous millennium with the development of gunpowder and the introduction of rifles and other superior weapons.
Humanity, however, hasn’t forgotten the bow and arrow entirely and relegated it to museums as archery remains relevant in the modern world, albeit in the form of a competitive sport and a recreational activity.
As a sport, it has been at the core of the Olympic programme for decades now, having made its first appearance at the world’s biggest sporting event more than a century ago.
What is Archery’s history at Olympics?
Archery had first been introduced in the 1900 Games in Paris, the second edition of the Summer Olympics, and had also been featured in the 1904, 1908 and 1920 Games in St Louis, London and Antwerp respectively.
This era is widely referred to as the ‘Early Era’ — a period marked by inconsistency in formats with events often being played by local rules. Such inconsistency led to the sport getting dropped from the Olympic programmed until the 1960s.
World Archery had been formed in 1931 with the goal of bringing the sport back into the Olympic fold. It succeeded in doing so in the 1972 Munich Games, and archery has been part of the Olympics ever since.
What has helped add to the sport’s appeal is the introduction of a revamped format in the ‘Modern Era’ of archery (1970s and beyond) that has made it more broadcast friendly.
Republic of Korea is the most successful nation in archery with 43 medals — 27 gold, nine silver and seven bronze. That includes a sweep of all four gold medals on offer in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Belgium’s Hubert van Innis is the most successful archer at the Olympics across eras, winning six gold and three silver medals in the 1900 and 1920 Games. As for the ‘Modern Era’, Korea’s Kim Soo-Nyung leads the pack with six medals — four gold along with one silver and bronze each in the 1988, 1992 and 2000 Games.
What are the rules?
Archers are required to shoot at a target that is located 70 metres away from them and is 122 centimetre in diameter. Their objective is to hit the centre of the target, a 10-run measuring just 12.2 cm in diameter, as frequently as possible, and it is on this ability that they are judged.
The qualification phase of the competition involves the use of 72 arrows, and the total score from that round determines the seedings for the matchplay phase. Matches in the individual as well as team events take place in head-to-head format in which the winner advances and the loser is knocked out, which concludes with a showdown for gold between the top two archers or teams in a category.
There are two disciplines in the modern sport — recurve and compound, the difference lying in the structure of the bow. While the compound event is part of global events such as World Cups, the Olympics features only the recurve discipline.
Archery features individual as well as team events in the men’s as well as women’s section along with a mixed team event, which made its debut in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
Who are the reigning champions?
Men’s individual: Mete Gazoz, Turkey.
Men’s team: Kim Woo-jin, Oh Jin-hyek and Kim Je-deok, South Korea.
Women’s individual: An San, South Korea.
Women’s team: An San, Jang Min-hee and Kang Chae-young, South Korea.
Mixed team: Kim Je-deok and An San, South Korea.
Which countries have qualified?
A total of 128 athletes (64 men and as many women) from 53 nations will be competing in archery in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
That includes India, who are being represented by Dhiraj Bommadevara, Tarundeep Rai and Pravin Ramesh Jadhav in the men’s section and Bhajan Kaur, Ankita Bhakat and Deepika Kumari in the women’s category.
Who are the athletes to watch in archery?
Marcus D’Almeida, Brazil: Ranked No. 1 in the world, D’Almeida was the World Archery Federation Archer of the Year in 2023. He earned the bronze medal at the world championships last year and claimed the South American title in March.
Mete Gazoz, Turkey: He is trying to repeat as individual Olympic gold medalist. Gazoz recently won the European championship after claiming the world championship in 2023.
Kim Je-deok, South Korea: He won gold as part of the men’s team competition and the first-ever mixed team competition in Tokyo at just 17 years old.
Casey Kaufhold, United States: The 20-year-old is ranked No. 1 in the world. She qualified for Tokyo and competed at age 17. She was a silver medalist at the 2021 world championships.
Lim Si-hyeon, South Korea: The 20-year-old is ranked No. 2 in the world and has emerged as South Korea’s top female archer.
Kim Woo-jin, South Korea: The veteran won gold in Tokyo as part of the men’s team competition. He’ll be 32 by the time competition starts in Paris.
When and where will archery take place at Paris Olympics?
The archery event at the Paris Olympics will take place between 25 July and 4 August at Esplanade des Invalides in Paris. The women’s individual final will take place on 3 August with the men’s final taking place the following day.
With AP inputs
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English (US) ·