Robin Hood, William Tell, Legolas—stories of skilled archers pervade our culture. Archery historically was used for hunting and war. But the sport is alive and well today. The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, offer a chance to see some of the modern world’s greats.
The Olympics include men’s and women’s individual and team events, plus a mixed team event. Archers shoot over a distance of nearly 229 feet. Picturing that classic archery target? Each ring is worth a different number of points, with the innermost yellow ring bringing in 10 points per arrow.
The Olympic archery team rosters won’t be complete until the final qualifying event in mid-June. But here are a few top archers to watch:
Marcus D’Almeida of Brazil took a third place finish at the Hyundai World Archery Championships in August 2023. The 26-year-old is the first Brazilian to hold the world number one ranking in his category, the recurve bow. What’s his strategy? Last year, he told World Archery that over time, talent becomes less of a factor. Hard work becomes more important.
Casey Kaufhold finished fourth in recurve women at the World Archery Championships. The American is only 20, but this could be her second time at the Olympics. She competed in the Tokyo Games as a 17-year-old. “I wasn’t expecting the different pressure that comes along with the Olympic Games,” she says, according to Team USA’s website. “But having that experience once and knowing what I can do different, I feel like I’ll be much more prepared for 2024 compared to 2020.”
There are other competitive archers you won’t see at the Olympics. That’s because Olympics competition uses only one type of bow: recurve. When unstrung, the ends of this bow curve away from the archer.
But it’s not the only bow around. Cables and pulleys help bend the limbs of a compound bow. These powerful bows are favored by bowhunters. While compound bows aren’t used in the Olympics (at least not yet), other major sporting events such as the Pan American and Asian Games include compound archery competition. The longbow (the kind Robin Hood used) is a tall, straight bow. A crossbow is a horizontal bow with a trigger and stock like a rifle.
No matter what bow you use, archery requires focus and practice—good traits for anyone.
He made me a polished arrow; in His quiver He hid me away. — Isaiah 49:2
Why? Archery is one of the oldest sports still practiced today. Archers at the Olympics show us what hard work and dedication can yield.
