Archery is a competition that has been used for centuries to find the best of the best, however in the Olympics it was first seen in the 1900 Paris games then in the 1920 Antwerp games. The sport then took a massive 52 year break from the Olympics before its return in the 1972 Munich games.
Most people know that the entire point of archery is to hit as close to the bullseye as possible as often as you can, but many don't know about the Olympic competition format. Men and women compete separete as individuals and in teams of three and all rounds are head-to-head elimination competitions. Before the start of the elimination rounds all athletes and teams shoot a 72 arrow ranking round which decides the line-up for the elimination rounds making sure that the best don't meet until the finals. In the elimination round all competitors shoot 72 arrows and the individual or team with the highest score moves on to the next round. Competitiors take turn shooting their arrows to make for a more interesting spectator sport shooting 6 arrows every turn. The targets are 70 meters away and are 122 centimeters in diameter with the bullseye measuring 12.2 centimeters.
The sport not unlike other shooting sports is as much a mental sport as it is a physical sport. Being able to remain cool under pressure, especially during the Olympics, is key to winning in this sport and it can come down to the last arrow to decide a winner making the pressure intense.
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| The Blind Archer |
The favourite for the mens individual competition is without a doubt Im Dong-Hyun from South Korea. This athlete is already a two-time olympic team medallist who just days ago beat his own world record and helped his team to beat their record in the Olympic test event. This despite the fact that Dong-Hyun is so near sighted that he can't really see the target and is known in South Korea as the "Blind Archer". This year he is the red hot favourite to take his first individual Olympic medal. The South Korean team isn't just favourites to win they are expected to bring home a third consectutive Olympic gold medal.
The womens competition is very tough to predict a favourite, not because there isn't favourites, but because the South Korean team hasn't been picked yet and there are many women up for consideration. However my personal favourite is Park Sung-Hyun who will be trying to redeem her loss at the 2008 Beijing final where she lost to Zhang Juanjuan. It might just turn out to be a repeat of the Beijing final. For the team event again the South Koorean team is expected to take gold, but China will give them a good run for their money. It will be interesting to see how the South Korean athletes live up to the pressure they have from their home country to collect all medals in this olympic event.
The finals in this event will without a doubt be something to watch as I predict them to be very close and not decided before the last arrow.
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