Archery

Archery is one of the oldest known sports. Use of the bow and arrow for hunting can be traced back to the Aurignacians, a race of people existing 15,000 years ago. By the 14th century, archers were found to be valuable as soldiers, and the English kings made archery practice mandatory for the British soldiers. Archery as a sport became popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1676, the first organized group, the Royal Company of Archers, was formed in England for the purpose of advancing the sport. This was followed in 1781 by the Royal Toxophilite Society. The first British championships were conducted in 1844.

Archery is governed worldwide by the World Archery Federation (WAF), originally the Fédération Internationale de Tir à l’Arc (FITA), also known as the International Archery Federation. The federation was founded on 4 September 1931, in Lwów, Poland (today Lviv, Ukraine), with seven founding members: France, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Poland, the United States, Hungary, and Italy. Through 2024, 167 national federations were members of WAF.

Archery was first held as a sport at the 1900 Paris Olympics, and again in 1904, 1908, and 1920, but then left the Olympic Programme. In those early years, it was possible for an athlete to compete in multiple events and win several medals. The top Olympic medal winner in archery is still Hubert Van Innis of Belgium, who competed in the 1900 and 1920 Olympics, winning 10 medals, six of them gold.

When the sport was returned to the Olympics in 1972, there was only one event for men and one for women. In 1988, team events for men and women were added to the programme. Also in 1988, the individual formats were changed. Previously (1972-1984), men and women shot a Double FITA Round (288 arrows at various distances). There is now a qualifying round, and the archers and teams then engage in single-elimination knock-out matches until a champion is crowned.

The sport is dominated by the Republic of Korea, especially among the women. In fact, since the inception of the women’s team event back in 1988, the country has never lost a single gold medal in the competition. Through 2024, this represents an incredible record of 10 gold medals in a row in the same event. In total, the country has won 50 medals and 32 golds.

As of 2024, South Korean Kim Su-Nyeong is the female archer with the best performance at the Olympics, with six medals and four golds. She is followed by her compatriots Park Seong-Hyeon and Gi Bo-Bae, both with four medals and three golds. On the men’s side, after the aforementioned record of Hubert Van Inis during the 1900 and 1920 Olympics, comes another South Korean, Kim Wu-Jin, who has won five medals, all gold, from 2016-2024.