At the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis, six archery events were contested, of which three were men's and three were women's competitions. 23 men and 6 women constituted the field. As was common in early Olympic archery, the events held in 1904 had little resemblance to the previous edition's events. The events were essentially United States national championships: formally named the 26th Grand Annual Target Meeting of the National Archery Association and, while open to international entrants, having no foreign competitors. Team archery was introduced at these Games, as was women's archery. The medalists were the same for both men's individual events and both women's individual events. Howell finished with three golds as she was a member of the only women's team to appear.
Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held at Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, Greece with ranking rounds on 12 August and regular competition held from 15 August to 21 August. One hundred twenty-eight archers from forty-three nations competed in the four gold medal events—individual and team events for men and for women—that were contested at these games.
Archery had its debut at the 1900 Summer Olympics and has been contested in 16 Olympiads. Eighty-four nations have competed in the Olympic archery events, with France appearing the most often at 31 times. The most noticeable trend has been the excellence of South Korean archers, who have won 27 out of 39 gold medals in events since 1984. It is governed by the World Archery Federation. Recurve archery is the only discipline of archery featured at the Olympic Games. Archery is also an event at the Summer Paralympics.
The men's double York round was one of three archery events on the archery at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. Arrows were shot in ends, or groups, of three. The archers shot a total of 288 arrows each over the two rounds of 144. The competition was held on Friday, 17 July and Saturday, 18 July, with one round each day. The archers had to contend with significant rain and wind on the first day and gusts of wind on the second.
The men's Continental style was one of three archery events on the Archery at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The event was held on 20 July. NOCs were limited to 30 competitors each, though none came close to this maximum.
The women's double National round was one of three archery events on the archery at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Friday, 17 July and Saturday, 18 July, with one round each day. The archers had to contend with significant rain and wind on the first day and gusts of wind on the second.
The men's individual revolver and pistol competition was one of 15 shooting sports events on the shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Friday, 10 July 1908. Each nation could enter up to 12 shooters. Forty-three sport shooters from seven nations competed. Nations were limited to 12 shooters each. The event was won by Paul Van Asbroeck of Belgium, with his countryman Réginald Storms taking silver. They were the first medals for Belgian shooters in the free pistol. American James Gorman finished with the bronze medal after an unsuccessful protest, claiming he had put one bullet through a previous hole.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Archery competitions were held between 9 August and 15 August, at the Olympic Green Archery Field, a temporary venue on the Olympic Green, Beijing's Olympic Park.
Matilda "Lida" Scott Howell was an American archer who competed in the early twentieth century. She won three gold medals in Archery at the 1904 Summer Olympics in Missouri in the double national and Columbia rounds and for the US team.
Target archery is the most popular form of archery, in which members shoot at stationary circular targets at varying distances. All types of bow – longbow, barebow, recurve and compound – can be used. In Great Britain, imperial rounds, measured in yards, are still used for many tournaments and these have slightly different rules to metric (WA) rounds, which are used internationally. Archers are divided into seniors and juniors, with juniors being those under the age of 18.
Field archery is any archery discipline that involves shooting at outdoor targets of varying and often unmarked distance, typically in woodland and rough terrain.
The men's double York round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The event was held on 20 September 1904 at Francis Field. There were 16 competitors, all from the host nation of the United States. George Bryant won the gold medal, with Robert Williams taking silver and William Thompson earning bronze.
The women's double Columbia round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Monday, 19 September 1904. Six archers, all from the host United States, competed. The event was won by Matilda Howell, the first of her three gold medals in the 1904 archery competitions. Emma Cooke and Jessie Pollock earned silver and bronze, respectively. The three women would finish in the same positions a day later in the double National round event.
The women's double National round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Tuesday, 20 September 1904. Six archers, all from the host United States, competed. The event was won by Matilda Howell, the second of her three gold medals in the 1904 archery competitions. Emma Cooke and Jessie Pollock earned silver and bronze, respectively. The three women had finished in the same positions a day earlier in the double Columbia round event.
The men's team round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on 21 September 1904 at Francis Field. 16 archers, comprising 4 teams of 4, competed. The event was won by the Potomac Archers, with the Cincinnati Archers taking silver, the Boston Archers bronze, and the Chicago Archers fourth place.
The women's team round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The competition took place on 21 September 1904 at Francis Field. Only one team, consisting of four archers from the host United States, appears to have competed. The International Olympic Committee credits that team with gold medals.
Modern competitive archery involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy and precision from a set distance or distances. This is the most popular form of competitive archery worldwide and is called target archery. A form particularly popular in Europe, North America, and South America is field archery, shot at targets generally set at various distances in a wooded setting. There are also several other lesser-known and historical forms, as well as archery novelty games.
Thomas Foster Scott was an American archer who competed at the 1904 Summer Olympics. Born in Warren County, Ohio, Scott competed in the men's double American round and the men's double York round, but did not win any medals. Scott, who competed in the events at the age of 71 years and 260 days, was the oldest person to compete in an archery event at the Olympics. He died six years later, in Norwood, Ohio. Scott's daughter, Matilda Howell, was also an Olympic archer who won three gold medals.
The women's individual recurve archery event at the 2014 Asian Games was held from 23 to 28 September at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field in Incheon, South Korea. It was the tenth time the event was held as part of the Asian Games sports programme since the debut of archery in 1978. A total of 56 archers from 18 nations qualified for the event. Yun Ok-hee of South Korea was the defending champion.
The men's individual archery event at the 1976 Summer Olympics was part of the archery programme. The event consisted of a double FITA round. For each round, the archer shot 36 arrows at each of four distances—90, 50, 70, and 30 metres. The highest score for each arrow was 10 points, giving a possible maximum of 2880 points. 23 nations sent 37 archers to the men's competition.
