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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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
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

• 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

Bow limbs are generally constructed of man-made materials, such as fiberglass, carbon and syntatic foam.
Bow handles are made of aluminum alloys and are machined for strength.
Some bow handles are made of magnesium and an aluminum mixture which are heated to liquid form and poured into a mold. Once cooled, it is cleaned and painted.
Bows have stabilizers to reduce torque (twisting) in the arrows upon release. They also have sights to aid in aiming and arrow rests to help align the shot.

It may not have to be said, but the sport of archery demands accuracy.
The 10-ring target face for 90 meters is just 4.8 inches in diameter.
Imagine standing on the goal line of a football field and hitting an apple under the opposite goalpost!
The entire target at 90 meters compares in size to the head of a thumbtack held at arms length.

Although many are small in stature, archers are not limited in terms of strength and stamina.
The average draw weight of a man’s bow is 50 pounds.
In an average tournament, the bow is lifted and drawn more than 312 times for a total of 15,600 pounds (7.8 tons!) pulled over four days.
Women pull about 5.3 tons with their 34 pound average bows.
To put this in a different perspective, the world's strongest weightlifters lift up to 3,000 pounds (1.5 tons) in a competition.

Most bow strings are made of either Fast Flight, a hydrocarbon product that also has medical and other uses, or Kevlar, the material used to make bullet-proof vests.
Arrows are made of either aluminum or carbon graphite. Aluminum arrows are more uniform in weight and shape, while graphite arrows fly faster.
Attached to the shaft are the point, nock (which holds the arrow in place on the bow string), and the fletching (also called feathers or vanes).

The Easton Archery Complex at the ARCO Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. is the largest permanent archery facility in North America.

• The top eight men's and top eight women's teams at the World Championships
  each earn three individual Olympic berths (24 men and 24 women).
• At the same World Championships, the top 19 archers in both the men's and women's events
  whose teams did not qualify based on the first criteria will earn a single Olympic berth for their countries (19 men and 19 women).
• Fifteen men and 15 women will qualify from the five official Continental Qualifying Tournaments
  (Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania) held in the 2 years prior to the Olympics.
  The top three men and top three women in each of these tournaments earn Olympic spots for their country (15 men and 15 women).
• Three "developmental places" in both the men's and women's competitions will be award by a tripartite commission
  consisting of representatives of the International Olympic Committee, FITA and the Association of National Olympic Committees (three men and three women).
• The host country is awarded three men's and three women's berths (three men and three women).