Archery at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Since the revival of archery on the Olympic stage in 1972, the sport has been held in some scenic, historic or iconic venues, and 2016 was no exception. In Rio de Janeiro, the Sambódromo, hosted in its southern section, the same four events as in London 2012: men’s and women’s individual and team events. The Sambadrome of Marquês de Sapucaí was designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, and opened in 1894 as the grandstand street in the city center, where the parade and competition of Rio’s samba schools, called Desfile, is held during the Carnival. The original symmetrical setting intended by the architect was completed by adding grandstands to bring the overall capacity to 90.000.

As in London 2012, the distance between the archer and the target was 70 m. The diameter of the target was 1.22 m with scores from one to ten. Matches in the elimination tournament were decided over five sets of three arrows, the winner of each set getting two points, with one point each for a tie and nothing for the loser. If matches were tied, a single arrow shoot-out would decide the winner, the closest arrow to the center determining the victor.

The competitions in Rio confirmed the Korean Olympic archery superiority that had prevailed since 1988. For the first time, all four gold medals (and one bronze medal), went to Korea. In second place was the United States with one silver and one bronze medal. Of the previously strong nations, Russia won just one silver, while Italy and the People’s Republic of China returned empty handed. The four golds in Rio made archery Korea’s most successful sport overtaking short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics.