Bhutan Olympic Committee

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Bhutan Olympic Committee
Bhutan Olympic Committee logo.svg
Country/RegionFlag of Bhutan.svg  Bhutan
Code BHU
Created23 November 1983
Recognized1983
Continental
Association
OCA
Headquarters Thimphu, Bhutan
PresidentPrince Dasho Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck
Secretary General Sonam Karma Tshering
Website bhutanolympiccommittee.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Bhutan Olympic Committee (BOC) was created on 23 November 1983 with the 4th King of Bhutan as its President, with its headquarters at Thimphu, Bhutan. Following this recognition, Bhutan participated for the first time in the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles when three men and three women archers represented Bhutan. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Membership

Apart from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Bhutan is also a member of Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), Paris and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Kuwait. Affiliated sports federations of Bhutan are the Bhutan Amateur Athletic Federation, Bhutan Boxing Federation, Bhutan Football Federation, Bhutan Table Tennis Federation and Bhutan Tennis Federation, all located in Thimphu. [4]

In July 2003, the Department for Youth, Culture & Sports was established under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of Bhutan, with the objective to develop “a holistic approach and policy for sports and social development. Bhutan”. Bhutan now has 14 sports federations in which 100,000 (amateur) sports practitioners are members. [5]

Bhutan and the Netherlands have been involved in an active cooperation programme since 2001. Under this programme, archery, a national sport in Bhutan, is receiving a countrywide boost. The intention is towards the Olympic Games of 2012 to achieve status of Bhutan as one of the leading countries in Olympic archery. The bilateral cooperation has resulted in publication of a book, in 2004, on traditional and modern archery in Bhutan and the Netherlands, and a documentary film on Bhutan Olympic Archery to be screened in Germany and international channels. Similar cooperation has been extended to football by the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) [5] In 2004 the Bhutan Archery Federation was honored with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands. [6]

History

After the formation of the Bhutan Olympic Committee on 23 November 1983, they participated in the archery event of the Olympic Games 1984 held in Los Angeles. Six archers from Bhutan, three men and three women, participated in the event. [2] Since then Bhutan has participated in the Summer Games held in the 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. [7] Bhutan has also participated in the 2010 Youth Olympics

Tshering Chhoden along with veteran archer Jubzang participated in the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney. [2]

In the 2004 Games held in Athens, which marked the return of the games to the location of the first modern Olympics, two archers, Tshering Choden and Tashi Peljor (second participation), represented Bhutan. They reached the second round of the qualifying round for the first time. Two student athletes, Kunzang Chhoden and Sonam Tobgay also were part of this team as archers selected for the Olympic Youth Camp. [2]

Sports

The archery fever in Bhutan Changlimithang Archery Ground, Thimphu 06.jpg
The archery fever in Bhutan

For each Olympic Summer Games since 1984, Bhutan has fielded male and female archers. Archery is the national sport of Bhutan. They have never competed in the Winter Games or the other events of the Summer Games; they also have not yet won an Olympic medal. [8] [9]

While archery is the national sport of Bhutan and the only sport in which it participates in the Olympics, other popular sports in the country are tug of war, basketball, football and cricket. Adventure sports such as trekking, rafting, mountain biking and rock climbing are also popular. [9] [10]

Archery is very popular throughout Bhutan — each village has an archery range. However, until recently its equipment base was traditional (hand-carved bamboo bows); these have now been replaced by modern and high-tech equipment for international games. [9]

Documentary

A documentary film known as “The Other Final” was filmed based on a special football match arranged by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that was played between the 202nd placed (out of 203 worldwide) Bhutan and 203rd-ranked Montserrat. [9]

Honours

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thimphu</span> Capital and largest city of Bhutan

Thimphu is the capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's dzongkhags, the Thimphu District. The ancient capital city of Punakha was replaced by Thimphu as capital in 1955, and in 1961 Thimphu was declared as the capital of the Kingdom of Bhutan by the 3rd Druk Gyalpo Jigme Dorji Wangchuck.

Lin Sang is an archer from the People's Republic of China.

Tshering Choden is an archer from Bhutan who competed at the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Archery</span> International archery governing body

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan at the 1996 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Bhutan sent a delegation to compete at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, United States from 19 July to 4 August 1996. This was the Kingdom's fourth appearance at a Summer Olympic Games. The delegation to Atlanta consisted of two archers, Jubzhang Jubzhang and Ugyen Ugyen. Neither advanced past the round of 64 in their events, though Jubzhang pushed his match to a shootout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan at the 2000 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Changlimithang Stadium</span> Football stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan

Changlimithang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Thimphu, Bhutan, which serves as the national stadium. It is predominantly used for football matches and is the home of the Bhutan national football team, other national selections and a number of Thimphu-based football clubs. The stadium also regularly plays host to women's football, archery tournaments, minifootball and some volleyball matches. The stadium was initially constructed in 1974 for the coronation of the fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, but was completely refurbished in 2007 in advance of the coronation of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. Floodlights were added to the football pitch in 2009 and an evergreen turf laid in 2012, to coincide with the start of the first season of the National League. Located 2,300 meters (7,500 ft) above sea level, the stadium is one of the highest in the world. It has raised numerous controversies in footballing circles, as its significant altitude affects the absorption of oxygen in the human body, offering considerable advantage to the home teams who are more accustomed to such conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan at the 2008 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan at the 2006 Asian Games</span> Sporting event delegation

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Archery in Bhutan is the national sport of the Kingdom. Archery was declared the national sport in 1971, when Bhutan became a member of the United Nations. Since then, the popularity of Bhutanese archery has increased both inside and outside Bhutan, with a measure of government promotion. Bhutan also maintains an Olympic archery team. Previously, competitions were held only at dzongkhag and gewog levels, however modernly, archery tournaments and competitions are held throughout the country. Archery is played during religious and secular public holidays in Bhutan, local festivals (tsechu), between public ministries and departments, and between the dzonkhag and the regional teams. Archery tournaments and performances have also become a significant point of interest for tourism in Bhutan.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhutan at the 2012 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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References

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  6. Prince Claus Fund, Bhutan Archery Federation profile [ permanent dead link ]
  7. "Bhutan". Olympic itinerary. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  8. "Archery: the Real Game is Played Elsewhere". KUENSEL, Bhutan's national newspaper. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Bhutanese Archery". Interesting Things of the day. Archived from the original on 2 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-20.
  10. "Bhutan Olympic Committee". Official Website of the 16th Asian Games. Archived from the original on 2011-07-23. Retrieved 2010-04-20.