The sport of Para archery is intwined with the history of the Paralympic movement itself. Like many other Paralympic sports, it was first used as a rehabilitation activity for injured veterans by Dr. Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in the 1940s.Dr. Ludwig held the first archery tournament for English patients at the hospital in 1948, with the first international team joining in 1952. Para archery was present at the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960, and has remained on the programme ever since.
Men and women with a physical disability can compete standing or in a wheelchair. Events include recurve and compound bows, as well as mixed team.
Brief overview of the rules
Archers compete in two “classes” at the Paralympic Games:
W1: For athletes competing in wheelchairs whose arms demonstrate some degree of loss of muscle strength, co-ordination, or range of movement. Athletes may use either bow limited to 45lbs in draw weight and without magnifying sights
Open: Archers in this category can compete in a wheelchair, standing up or leaning on a stool. They have either extremely limited movement in their trunk and limbs with normal arm function or balance issues.
Competitions include a ranking round where the archers shoot 72 arrows (12 “ends” of six arrows each) over distances of 50m or 70m. Each archer has four minutes to shoot their six arrows. After the ranking round athletes compete head-to-head in elimination rounds consisting of five ends, with athletes using three arrows per end.
