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Archery and Sports

Current info about Archery is not always the easiest thing to locate. Fortunately, this report includes the latest Archery info available.
Archery Arrow
Incredible as it may sound, archery as a sports event was never heard of during the first Olympics in Greece. The Olympics have a long history of 1000 years and during this time the event could have been a part of the games. Archery for men was introduced in the Olympics of 1900 and the event for women started in 1904.

During the early years of Olympics, there was no regularity in the game rules and archery was not included as an event any more after 1920. While a lot of time went by before the international rules and guidelines of the Olympics was agreed upon by the participating countries, it took till 1972 when archery returned as a sport event during the Munich Olympics. From 1988 team competitions were introduced over and above individual events.

Bows Archery

The format of the game, since 1992, includes head-to-head competition amongst the top 64 aspirants. There are four archery events: Men’s Individual, Women’s Individual, Men’s Team and Women’s Team. Individual competitors (men and women) shoot 72 arrows at a ‘bulls-eye’ target from a distance of 70 meters (229 feet, 8 inches). Each shot must be made within a 40-second time limit with a perfect score being 720 and a ’sudden death’ overtime shot is then made in the event of a tie.

Archery Guide

So far, we’ve uncovered some interesting facts about Archery. You may decide that the following information is even more interesting.

In the team events there are totally 16 teams where each team has 3 archers, who, like the individual game, have to throw 72 arrows from a distance of 70 meters. How the winner is declared when there is a tie in score? Each archer shoots an arrow and the arrow which gets closest to the target, wins the game. In this game, the target consists of 10 rings and the scoring is according to the circle hit, for instance 1 point for the outermost ring, 2 points for the next ring and finally 10 points if the center of the target is hit.

Olympic archery events involve using a recurve bow which enables the arrow to traverse at the speed of 150 mph. These extraordinary bows are made from wood, fiberglass and graphite which helps in the arrow to travel in a straight line and this stabilizing effect helps for a perfect aim. Hydrocarbon product is the material used to make the strings or they are from Kelvar and the arrows are made with aluminum or carbon graphite with the total cost of the equipment going up to 00.

Participants for the Olympics archery events usually undergo training for about ten years. One should be in impeccable form to participate. An aspirant would also need the guidance of an excellent coach and the right equipment too. The best part is that archery is more affordable than many other sports. You would do well to read, study, talk to other archers, then attend and compete in local and national tournaments but most important of all is too practice, practice, practice.

Archery is a sport accessible to many disabled athletes. Take the example of Neroli Fairhall who as a woman New Zealander became the first paraplegic to participate in the Olympics but also landed up winning a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games. This game is such that you can enjoy it with all the members of your family and if you so desire, can go on playing it for the rest of your life.

It never hurts to be well-informed with the latest on Archery. Compare what you’ve learned here to future articles so that you can stay alert to changes in the area of Archery.