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Archery And the Olympic Games Our Suggestions

Interestingly, archery did not feature in the first Olympics held in Greece. Chances are that it was an Olympic sport sometime in them past, since the games have been continuing for the last 1000 years. The 1900 Olympics saw archery for men as an event for the first time and the women’s event began in 1904.

There were a lot of dissimilarities in the rules which governed the Olympics during those early years and after 1920, archery was no longer treated as a sport event. Many years passed before all the participating countries finally accepted the general rules and it was not until 1972 Munich Olympics that archery reappeared as a sport event. From 1988 team competitions were introduced over and above individual events.

The head-to-head arrangement of the event started from 1992 amongst 64 top athletes. Individual and team events for men and women are the four events in archery. In the individual events for men and women, players throw 72 arrows at the bull’s eye target standing at a distance of 70 meters which is 229 feel and 8 inches. One shot must follow the other in a matter of 40 seconds and the ideal score is 720 with a ’sudden death’ overtime shot which happens when there is a tie.

Each team has 3 archers and there are 16 teams in the team events where each archer throws 72 arrows which are shot from a distance of 70 meters. To select a winner in case of a tie, each archer shoots one arrow and whosoever’s arrow comes closest to the bull’s eye is the obvious choice. The scoring in this game is according to where the arrow hits the target, which consists of 10 rings so if the arrow hits the outermost ring, the archer gets 1 point, 2 points for the next ring and finally 10 if the center of the target is hit.

The recurve bow which is used during archery events help at Olympics makes the arrow travel at a speed of 150 mph. These specially-constructed bows are made of wood, fiberglass and graphite with built in stabilizers which enables the arrow to travel in a straight line for better aiming. The equipment is costly and can go beyond 00 the reason being strings made from hydrocarbon or from Kelvar and the arrows from aluminum or carbon graphite.

Archers who participate in Olympics level archery events usually would have been trained for ten years. To compete in these games, the player has to be in top form. An aspirant would also need the guidance of an excellent coach and the right equipment too. Fortunately, archery is much less expensive to pursue than many other sports. You need to learn the subject thoroughly, read as much about it as possible and communicate with other archers and then gradually start to participate in local and national events but most critical of all these is that you need to practice regularly and with all earnestness.

Athletes with disabilities can also engage in archery as a sport. A New Zealand woman, Neroli Fairhall, was the first paraplegic to compete in the Olympic Games and was a gold medalist in the Commonwealth Games. This is such a sport that the whole family can get fun out of it and it can be pursued for the whole life.

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