Welcome to Paralympic Sports Weeks!

Every week, we will take a close look at one of the 22 sports on the Paris 2024 

program and share everything you need to know ahead of the Paralympics.

We will start with Para archery. Archery is the practice of using a bow to shoot arrows at a target

 to score points.


A brief history of Para archery

Para archery has been part of the Paralympic sports programme since the inaugural Games in

 Rome in 1960. But the history of the sport itself goes back even further.

Dr. Ludwig Guttman, who is known as the founder of the Paralympic Movement,

 used archery as a rehabilitation activity for injured veterans at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in 

Great Britain in 1940. Eight years later, 16 people participated in the first archery tournament

 at the hospital, known as the 1948 Stoke Mandeville Games.




The sport has become more than a recreational activity and has grown in both participation 

size and level. At the Rome 1960 Paralympics, 19 athletes from eight countries competed 

across eight medal events.

Fifty-one years later, 139 athletes from 42 National Paralympic Committees participated in 

Tokyo 2020.

Great Britain, France, and the USA have competed in Para archery at all 15 editions of the 

Games. Great Britain leads the all-time medal table with 62 – 18 gold, 22 silver and 22 bronze. 

The USA has picked up 20 gold, eight silver, and 17 bronze medals, while France has captured 

39 medals – 15 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.



What to watch in Para archery

Athletes shoot arrows from a distance of 50 or 70 meters, aiming for as close to the

 center of the target as possible. The sport requires precision, control, focus, and repetition.

At the Paralympics, archers compete with a recurve bow in the recurve open category and

 with a compound bow in the compound open category. In addition, Para archery also has

 a W1 category for athletes with impairments in both the top and bottom halves of their body.

The recurve bow is the modern evolution of traditional bows. The energy stored in the limbs 

as the bow is drawn is transferred to the arrow as it is released. The compound bow features 

mechanical pulleys, telescopic sights, and release aids to assist accuracy.

The size of the target differs depending on the distance. In recurve events, a 122 cm target

 is used at a 70m distance, while an 80 cm target is used at 50m in compound competitions. 

The target in W1 events is 80cm and is shot from 50m.