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 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.
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.
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 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 men's double American round event was part of the archery programme at the 1904 Summer Olympics. The competition was held on Monday, 19 September 1904. Twenty two archers competed, all from the host United States. George Bryant won the competition, with Robert Williams finishing second and William Thompson third. A day later, the same three men in the same order would medal in the other 1904 Olympic archery event, the double York round.
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 archery events at the 2012 Olympic Games in London were held over an eight-day period from 27 July to 3 August. Four events took place, all being staged at Lord's Cricket Ground in front of temporary stands built to accommodate up to 6,500 spectators.
The girls' individual archery event at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 18 to 20 August 2010 at the Kallang Field in Kallang, Singapore. It was one of three recurve archery events which comprised the archery programme at the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics, and featured thirty-one archers from thirty-one countries. Entry was open to female archers born between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1993.
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.
The women's individual archery event at the 2012 Olympic Games was held from 27 July to 2 August 2012 at Lord's Cricket Ground in London in the United Kingdom. The event was one of four which comprised the 2012 Olympic archery programme of sports and was the eleventh time the women's individual competition was contested as an Olympic event. Forty different nations qualified for the competition, sending a total of sixty-four archers to compete. The defending Olympic champion from 2008 was Zhang Juanjuan of China, who did not compete following her retirement in 2010.
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 girls' individual archery event at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 22 to 25 August 2014 at the Fangshan Sports Training Base in Nanjing, China. One of three recurve archery events which comprised the archery programme, it was the second time the girls' individual discipline was contested at Summer Youth Olympics. Thirty-two archers from thirty-two countries entered the competition, which was open to female archers born between 1 January 1997 and 31 December 1999. The defending champion was South Korea's Kwak Ye-ji, who was unable to defend her title due to the age limitations imposed on the event.
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 girls' individual archery event at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics was held from 12 to 16 October 2018 at the Parque Sarmiento in Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of three recurve archery events which comprised the archery programme, it was the third time the girls' individual discipline had been contested at Summer Youth Olympics. Thirty-two archers from thirty-two countries entered the competition, which was open to female archers born between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2003. The defending champion was China's Li Jiaman, who was unable to defend her title due to the age limitations imposed on the event.
The women's individual recurve competition at the 2019 European Games was held from 21 to 26 June 2019 at the Olympic Sports Complex in Minsk, Belarus. It was the second time the event was held as part of the European Games archery programme. A total of 48 archers from 32 different nations entered the competition, with a maximum of three entries per country. The event offered one qualifying spot for the women's individual event at the 2020 Summer Olympics for any archer reaching the semi-finals from a nation that had not already qualified. The defending champion, Karina Winter of Germany, did not take part following her retirement from the sport.
The women's individual recurve archery event at the 2019 Pan American Games was held from 7 August to 11 August at the Villa María del Triunfo sports complex in Lima, Peru. One of eight archery events as part of the 2019 Pan American catalogue of sports, it was the eleventh time the women's individual recurve competition had been contested at the Games. Thirty-two archers from fourteen nations qualified for the event.
