Archery: Tokyo Olympics 2020-2021

Archery, an event focused on precision and perfection, has been part of the Olympics on a consistent basis ever since the Munich Olympics in 1972. Before becoming an Olympic regular, Archery featured at the Games from 1900 to 1908. The discipline made a short-lived return in 1920, before a 52-year spell away from the Olympic fold. 

The most successful archer in Olympic history is Hubert Van Innis. The Belgian archer claimed 8 medals (6 Gold, 2 Silver) in two appearances (1900 and 1920) at the sporting extravaganza. One can only imagine how many more he would have won had archery been held frequently and had he competed at the 1904 and 1908 editions of the Games. 

South Korea is the most successful nation in Olympic Archery. The country's archers have claimed 39 medals (23 Gold, 9 Silver, 7 Bronze). The USA, 5 medals behind, will look to have a stellar showing with bow and arrow to draw level or even snatch the lead in Tokyo. 

Archery at Tokyo Olympics 2020-2021

The Tokyo Olympics will mark the arrival of the Mixed Team event, resulting in archery having 5 events for the archers to seek Gold. As is the case with the men's and women's team events, the mixed event teams will also be determined as per the positions in the ranking round to be held hours before the Tokyo Olympics 2020 Opening Ceremony. 

Read More: What are the Archery Events at Tokyo Olympics 2021?

Top Archers at Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Brady Ellison has stood on the podium at the quadrennial sporting extravaganza quite frequently. However, he has yet to claim gold and as the top-ranked male archer, he will look to right this statistic. Jack Williams and Jacob Wukie are the other archers set to represent the USA at the men's events in archery. On the women's side, Casey Kaufhold, Mackenzie Brown, and Jennifer Mucino-Fernandez will lead the charge. 

Kim Woojin will look to banish the demons of his early elimination at the top seed at Rio in 2016. 

Top-ranked women's archer Lisa Barbelin (France) will be expected to not wilt under pressure at the Yumenoshima Park. Among the 21-year-old's principal challengers will be India's Deepika Kumari who will look to step onto the podium after disappointments at London and Rio. 

Read More: Who Won the Women’s Archery Event in Rio Olympics 2016

Meanwhile, she can face formidable opposition from the likes of Kang Chae-young and Leo Chien-Ying (part of the Bronze Team at Rio 2016).

In the women's team event, South Korea will look to maintain its record of being the only team to claim gold. The nation has won each of the eight editions since the introduction of the event in 1988. Kang Chae-young, An San, and Jang Min-hee will seek a ninth win for the country. 

Competition Format

Archery features bracket-based competition (starting from the round of 64 in the individual event) based on seedings determined at the ranking round. The top seed plays the last seed and so on. Each set won (three arrows per archer) gives the archer/s two points, with the first to reach six points (five in team events) advancing.

Also, being the higher seed hands the advantage to one side to decide the order in the first set. However, once the match begins, the competitor/team with the higher score in each set decides the order of shooting in the next set. A tied set sees the order of the first set being followed for any subsequent set. 

In the event of a 5-5 scoreline (4/4 in team events) after 5 sets (4 sets in team events), a single arrow shoot determines the winner. 

Read More: Tokyo Olympics 2021: Rules in Archery Sport

Meanwhile, at the team events, the head-to-head games begin from the round of 16 stage. For ties in the team events, all 6 members shoot an arrow each. In the event of a tie between the two closest arrows, the judges consider the second farthest arrow.

The brackets system, and only one bronze medal on offer, means that archery sees the losing semi-finalists take aim in a bronze medal match.

Archery Scoring Table

There are five colors on an archery board i.e. gold, red, blue, black, white. 

Types of Archery

Recurve archery is used in competition at the Olympic Games.  

Schedule for Archery at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Archery will begin hours before the opening ceremony with all 128 archers letting 72 arrows fly in a bid to get a top seeding and to do their bit to qualify for the team events. Proceedings at Yumenoshima Park will take place from July 23 (the ranking round) to July 31 i.e. the finals of the men's individual event. 

Venue for Archery at the Tokyo Olympics

Archery for the Tokyo 2020-2021 Olympics will take place at Yumenoshima Park.