III.

Archery as a Sport

Archery has long been popular as an amateur sport, particularly in England. The oldest continuously held archery tournament still extant, known as the Ancient Scorton Arrow, was founded in Yorkshire in 1673; and about 1790 the Royal Toxophilite (Greek toxon, “bow”; philos, “loving”) Society was formed to advance the sport. The Grand National Archery Society, the official organization of British archery, was established in 1844, and it has conducted championship contests since that year. Archery as a sport was introduced in North America in the 17th century. The earliest organized body of archers in the United States, known as the United Bowmen of Philadelphia, was active from 1828 to 1859, and the modern ruling body, the National Archery Association of the United States, was founded in 1879. Under the auspices of the association, the first annual archery tournament was held in Chicago in 1879.

Archery competition is divided into various categories, such as target, field, and flight shooting. The main events of a target-shooting tournament are called rounds, and the number of arrows shot and the range of distance are specified. In U.S. tournaments, target faces are made of paper and pinned to straw mats. The target is circular and has a series of concentric rings around a solid center, or bull's-eye. The center of the bull's-eye is suspended 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) above the ground. Ranging outward from the bull's-eye, the colors of the rings are gold, red, blue, black, and white. The rings are assigned point values for arrows shot into them; from gold to white, the values range from 10 (in the center of the gold) to 1 (in the outer part of the white ring).

After being discontinued at the Olympic Games in the early 1900s, archery again became an Olympic sport for men and women at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. Modernized in 1992 to promote interest, the Olympic round consists of a ranking round, an elimination round, a finals round, a team elimination round, and a team finals round. The individuals' event includes 64 archers, all shooting at the same time at targets 70 m (230 ft) away. Archers with the highest scores after various elimination heats compete for medals. The competition is conducted according to the International Archery Federation (FITA) rules.

Field shooting simulates hunting game, with small targets placed in natural surroundings at various distances. In flight shooting the object is the distance traversed by the arrow rather than the accuracy of the shot. In recent years hunting with bow and arrow has become popular, and in many parts of the United States legal seasons have been established for taking deer in this manner.

Reviewed by: National Archery Association of the United States