Almost all the peoples of the world used onions at certain stages of their development. Initially, it served for hunting or defense. With the invention of firearms, archery was further developed in sports.
This was facilitated by the Olympic movement, which gained strength after the 1894 Congress in Paris. Archery has been carried out since 1900 at three Olympics, but was dropped from the Olympic list in 1920. For 50 years, archers have not participated in the Games. Only in 1972, at the XX Olympiad in Munich, the competition resumed.
Nevertheless, the sport developed, in 1931 the International Archery Federation was created, which included 5 countries. World championships were held, international competition rules were developed.
After returning to the program of the Olympic Games, reforms began in the rules, aimed at limiting the number of participants and increasing the entertainment of wrestling. Now tournaments are held according to a new program. The goal of sport archery is to hit the smallest inner ring with an arrow on a target with a diameter of 1.22 meters. The championship is played in individual and team events. The individual competition begins with the FITA circle exercise (144 arrows at four distances). At the next stages, the competitions are held in pairs, with elimination after defeat. In these exercises, athletes shoot from a distance of 70 meters and shoot 12 arrows. A team of three is given 27 shots. There are 4 sets of awards for men and women in the individual and team championships.
In the USSR, this sport began to gain popularity only in the late 1950s. The first archers were the masters of bullet shooting Ivan Novozhilov, Anatoly Bogdanov and Nikolai Kalinichenko. Georgian athlete Ketevan Losaberidze won the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, becoming the first and only gold winner in the history of Soviet sports in archery.
Interestingly, this is the only Olympic sport in which disabled people can compete in the overall standings.
