St. Louis, MO (KSDK) -- The first known archery competition was organized in Finsbury, London, in 1583 and attracted 3,000 participants.
But looking at the sports history in the Olympics, it looks like a bit of a rocky relationship, dating back to its debut in 1900 at the Paris games.
After the 1908 London Games, the sport was dropped and then returned for a one time appearance in 1920.
It was reintroduced permanently at the 1972 Munich games.
During the games, all four archery events are played in a head-to-head elimination format. Men and women compete separately, both as individuals and in teams of three.
As for the competition, all athletes must be ranked and then placed into a bracket for tournament style elimination.
The object is simple: to shoot arrows as close to the center of a target as possible.
Standing 70-meters away, over 200-feet, Olympic archery targets are 122-centimeters in diameter with the 10-point gold ring in the center, just 12.2-centimeters.
Athletes compete with re-curve bows, distinctive as the limbs curve outwards at the top.
Here are some basic archery terms that may help you understand coverage:
- Boss - the target, usually a square black block made of compacted foam, to which the target face is attached
- Bowman - an athlete
- Draw - the act of pulling back the bow string in preparation for shooting
- Nock - a notch at the end of an arrow that attaches to the bow string.
83 different nations have appeared in the Olympic archery competitions, with France appearing at the top of the list with 11. It is also governed by the International Archery Federation.
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