Archery

[Competition venue: Yumenoshima Park Archery Field]

      • Archery

        Overview
        Target face: 122cm in diameter
        (the centre of the target face is situated 130cm above ground level)
        Shooting distance: 70 m

        Athletes use a bow to shoot arrows at the target face from behind a firing line. Arrows hitting the target face score points. Archery features individual (man and woman) and team (three archers per team) competitions and mixed team (man and woman archer each per team).

        Key Points

        Arrows fly at around 250 km/h (70 metres per second). Accurate shooting requires muscularity to control the draw weight of the bow and mental strength to withstand tournament pressure.
        There is a time limit in both individual and team competitions. Athletes must shoot within the time limit.
        Target faces are marked with ten evenly spaced concentric circles, with different score values for each circle. The score value of the centre circle is ten points, with score values decreasing by one point for each circle to the outer circle.
        Since athletes (teams) shoot alternately, spectators may witness see-saw battles, and experience the intensity of the competition.
        Matchups are determined in a ranking round. In the ranking round, the respective athletes score and collect their arrows.

        History

        The bow and arrow is thought to be the first real “shooting” weapon used by humans, and its origin is said to predate history. However, the bow and arrow was used for hunting, not for sport.
        Competitive archery is said to date back to a competition held by the English king Henry VIII in the 16th century.
        Archery first appeared in the Olympic Games in the Paris 1900 Games. However, it was dropped after the Antwerp 1920 Olympic Games, before returning in the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. Team events were added to the Olympic Archery programme at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. Mixed team event is added to Tokyo 2020 Games.
        Noticeable results achieved by Japanese athletes in recent years include a silver medal won by Takaharu Furukawa and a bronze medal by the women's team (Miki Kanie, Ren Hayakawa and Kaori Kawanaka) at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

        Detail

        MenWomen
        Event Individual competition Individual competition
        Team competition Team competition
        Mixed
        Mixed Team

(Updated on April 10, 2019)