Rules and Classification
What is it?
Paralympic Archery is basically the same as Olympic Archery, but with rules adapted for athletes with a disability. The aim is to shoot arrows as close to the centre of a target as possible.
Who can participate in Archery at the Paralympics?
Archery events are open only to athletes with a physical disability.
Athletes are separated into three groups:
- Archery Wheelchair 1 (ARW1) - These athletes have a disability that affects their arms and their legs.
- Archery Wheelchair 2 (ARW2) - These athletes have a disability that affects only their legs.
- Archery Standing (ARST) - These athletes have a disability that affects their legs, but they are able to stand or sit in an ordinary chair with their feet on the ground.
How is it played?
- There are individual and team competitions for both men and women.
- The target is placed at a distance of 70 metres.
- The target has 10 rings, from very big on the outside, to the small circle in the centre.
- Each ring on the target is worth from one to 10 points. The smallest, in the middle, is worth 10 points.
- The winner is the archer who scores most points.
- Matches are played over the best of five sets. Each set consists of three arrows per archer.
- In the team competition each team has three archers competing against each other.
There are a number of aids which athletes can use depending on how serious their disability is. Here are a few examples:
- a wheelchair
- a body support
- something to help the athlete release the arrow using their mouth
- a compound bow
- a bow tied or bandaged to the hand
- a support for an elbow/wrist
- a person to load arrows into the bow
A moment of magic?
Many people remember the moment when Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo shot a flaming arrow to light the Olympic Flame at the Opening Ceremony in Barcelona in 1992.
Rebollo, who suffered from polio when he was a baby, represented Spain at the Paralympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992, winning two silver medals and a bronze.
The selection process to find the athlete who would light the Olympic Flame began with 200 archers. Rebollo finally found himself among the final four, and apparently was chosen only two hours before the famous moment.
In an interview four years later he said “There were no fears – I was practically a robot. I focused on my positioning and reaching the target.”
But according to BBC journalist John Mathews, things were not as they appeared. The organisers could not risk his arrow missing the target. If it had fallen short and landed among the crowd, it could have burnt somebody, so Rebollo was instructed to shoot his arrow safely out of the stadium.
So it was actually some clever pyrotechnics, special effects, and camera angles which ensured that millions of people watching on TV around the world were amazed as they ‘saw’ his burning arrow shoot through the air and ignite the Olympic Flame.