String taught and muscles tensed, the archers take aim. And for the first time, the crowds go wild. Archery has moved into the new realm of spectator sport by encouraging cheers nearly 100 years after its first Olympic competition.
This precision sport has ancient roots that are anchored in the once practical, now sporting, use of bow and arrow. Historians believe the bow and arrow have been the tools of markmanship for at least 50,000 years. Once a simple weapon, this tool has evolved into many forms.
Olympic archers use a recurve bow, on which both ends curve away from the archer, to shoot carbon or aluminum arrows at 122cm / 48.8-inch targets located 70 meters away. This discipline, called FITA-style, is the most popular in the sport. It was devised by archery's world governing body, the Federation Internationale de Tir a l'Arc, which hasworked hard to revive the sport on the Olympic level for the last 50 years. Without standardized rules, international competition had little meaning the sport was removed from the Olympic Programme between 1920 and 1972.
But when it came back, it came back with a bang. Proving that skill with a bow can be achieved through sheer determination rather than nurtured genetic predisposition, archers John WILLIAMS and Doreen WILBER won the men's and women's individual gold medals in 1972 despite drastically different physiques. WILLIAMS was a tall, athletic 18-year-old who revolutionized the sport with his physical training methods, whereas WILBER was an Iowa housewife more than twice his age. Each surprised the crowd: WILLIAMS by breaking the world record in the first round and being the first man to score more than 2,500 points; and WILBER by beating a competitor by 17 points after making up a 26-point deficit.
In 1996, a change in the competition format once again updated archery for the times. Competition will begin with a ranking round to determine the seeding for individuals and teams. The round puts 64 archers on the line all shooting 72 arrows (12 ends of 6 arrows each) at the same time.
Once the individuals are ranked from 1 to 64, they shoot head-to-head in a single-elimination tournament. While head-to-head single elimination was done for the finals in Barcelona, this is the first time crowds will be kept on the edge of their seats all the way through the tournament.
The ranking round also determines who will shoot for each country. Teams are comprised of three members. The top 16 teams determined by the ranking round advance to the team competition, where they too will go through head-to-head elimination and final rounds.
The sport has been known to be full of surprises. Barcelona had its share of upsets. The host country took the men's team event, Great Britain won its first medal in 84 years and champion KIM Soo Nyung of Korea fell to a younger, less experienced teammate. Atlanta will be no different. So sit back and prepare to cheer for the most exciting archery you've ever seen.
This is an official publication of the Atlanta Committee for
the Olympic Games Sports Publication Department. Written by Howard
Thomas.
| The Mother Nature was kind to Olympic athletes and spectators. The average high temperature during the Games was 89 degrees with an average low of 72 degrees. Highest temperature registered (20 July) - 99 degrees. Lowest high temperature registered is 79 degrees (28 July). |