Archery is the art and sport of propelling arrows with a bow, a practice that began as prehistoric hunting technology at least 10,000 years ago and evolved into a disciplined athletic pursuit today. A modern target archer uses a recurve, compound, or traditional longbow; Olympic competition employs the recurve, whose curved limbs store more energy than a straight bow and deliver arrows at more than 200 km/h. Compound bows, developed in the 1960s, add pulleys and cables that reduce holding weight and increase accuracy, while traditional archery preserves historical wooden designs for instinctive shooting.
Equipment is tightly regulated. Arrows are aluminum-carbon tubes tipped with field or target points, fletched with three plastic vanes that stabilize flight. Bows are drawn to standardized weights—men typically 40–50 lb, women 30–40 lb at full draw—measured against a clicker that signals consistent anchor. Sights, stabilizer rods, and mechanical release aids are permitted in most divisions, but the Olympic recurve limits magnification and electronics. Protective gear includes finger tabs, arm guards, and chest protectors to prevent string slap.
Competition format is 72 arrows shot at 70 m for Olympic ranking, followed by head-to-head elimination matches decided by cumulative score or, if tied, by closest-to-center arrows. The traditional 10-ring target face is 122 cm wide; the inner 10-ring is only 12.2 cm, roughly the size of a compact disc, demanding sub-milliradian precision. A perfect Olympic score is 720, a feat achieved only a handful of times.
Physical demands are subtle but real: archers walk eight kilometers daily during tournaments, draw cumulative loads exceeding two metric tons, and must control heart-rate spikes so that sight pins float within the gold zone. Mental training rivals golf or biathlon: routines last eight seconds from anchor to release, and elite athletes use diaphragmatic breathing, quiet-eye focus, and imagery to quiet tremor measured by accelerometers on the bow.
Beyond the target range, archery survives in 3-D woodland courses simulating hunting, in traditional Japanese kyūdō whose meditative shooting seeks spiritual refinement, and in pop-culture phenomena like “The Hunger Games.” Adaptive archery allows wheelchair athletes to compete at the Paralympics using draw-lock or mouth-tab devices. The sport’s governing body, World Archery, unites 160 national federations; since its 1972 Olympic reintroduction, South Korea has dominated with 27 of 128 gold medals, attributing success to rigorous school programs and biomechanical research institutes. Whether practiced as elite sport, historical reenactment, or mindful recreation, archery compresses physics, physiology, and poetry into the silent moment an arrow arcs toward gold.
