Archery
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Sport Overview
Archery at Los Angeles 2028
Venue: Carson Stadium
Competition Dates: July 19, 21-28 (Days 5, 7-14)
Events: 6 (2 men, 2 women, 2 mixed)
| Men’s Events | Women’s Events | Mixed Events |
|---|---|---|
| Recurve Individual Recurve Team | Recurve Individual Recurve Team | Recurve Mixed Team Compound Mixed Team |
The usage of a bow and arrow for hunting can be traced back 15,000 years. Archery as a sport became popular during the 16th and 17th centuries, with the first organized group, the Royal Company of Archers, formed in England in 1676.
Since archery’s permanent return to the Olympic program at Munich 1972, it has only been contested with recurve bows, the traditional form of which have the limbs at the top and bottom of the bow curving back away from the archer at each tip.
Los Angeles 2028 will mark the Olympic debut of the compound bow, which was invented in the 1960s. Made to be more mechanically efficient in transferring energy to the arrow, it has a system of pulleys and cables that make it easier to hold the bow at full draw. Archers also use magnifying sights and mechanical release aids, making the compound bow more accurate than the recurve bow.
The Olympic program includes separate individual and team recurve events for men and women as well as a mixed team recurve event. The inaugural Olympic event in compound archery will be a mixed team event.
Recurve
In recurve archery, archers aim at a 122cm diameter five-ring target from a distance of 70 metres. Each ring is sub-divided in half to create 10 scoring zones. The centre yellow ring is worth 10 points while the outer white ring is worth one point.
A qualification round of 72 arrows determines the seeding for all events and sets up the single elimination brackets in which the athletes or teams face off in head-to-head matchups
Each individual match is best-of-five sets of three arrows. After each set of three arrows, the archer with the highest score earns two points. If a set is scored as a tie, each archer receives one point. The first archer to reach six points wins the match. If a match is tied at five, each archer shoots one arrow to see who can get closest to the centre of the target for the win.
Each men’s team and each women’s team has three archers while a mixed team is composed of one man and one woman. Every team match consists of a maximum four sets in which each archer on each team shoots two arrows. The team with the highest total score after a set earns two points. The first team to reach five points wins the match.
Compound
In compound archery, arrows are shot from a distance of 50 metres at a target measuring 80 centimetres in diameter. Typically, the four outer rings are removed, leaving six scoring zones. The 10-ring in the centre has a diameter of eight centimetres.
A mixed team features one man and one woman. A qualification round of 72 arrows determines the seeding and setup of the head-to-head bracket in the elimination round. Each compound mixed team match is decided on the cumulative score of 16 arrows (split into four ends of four) per team (eight arrows per team member). The highest scoring team wins. If teams are tied after regulation, a single arrow shoot-off is held to see who can land closest to the middle of the target.
Canada’s Olympic Archery History (Pre-LA 2028)
Canada has not yet won an Olympic medal in archery. The country’s best result came at Montreal 1976 where Lucille Lemay finished fifth in the women’s individual recurve event. The top men’s result was Donald Jackson’s sixth place finish at Munich 1972.
Canada’s Best Ever Olympic Archery Results by Event
Canada last competed in the men’s team recurve event at Beijing 2008, placing 11th, while Canada has never entered the women’s team recurve event. In the inaugural Olympic mixed team recurve event at Tokyo 2020, Crispin Duenas and Stephanie Barrett placed 17th.
Olympic Archery History
Archery was included at the 1900, 1904, and 1908 Olympic Games. There were various events, such as au chapelet and au cordon doré, both of which involved a target set up at the end of a narrow hedge- or tree-lined path, as well as different forms of pole archery, with the targets positioned 28 metres off the ground.
After a short absence, it returned to the program at Antwerp 1920 but was then not included again until Munich 1972 when men and women competed in individual recurve events. Men’s and women’s team recurve events were added at Seoul 1988 and the mixed team event recurve was included for the first time at Tokyo 2020. A mixed team compound event will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
