Archery at the 2016 Summer Olympics

Dates 5 – 12 August 2016
Medal Events 4

Since the revival of archery on the Olympic stage in 1972, the sport has been held in some scenic, historic or iconic venues, and 2016 was no exception. In Rio de Janeiro, the Sambódromo, hosted in its southern section, the same four events as in London 2012: men’s and women’s individual and team events. The Sambadrome of Marquês de Sapucaí was designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, and opened in 1894 as the grandstand street in the city center, where the parade and competition of Rio’s samba schools, called Desfile, is held during the Carnival. The original symmetrical setting intended by the architect was completed by adding grandstands to bring the overall capacity to 90.000.

As in London 2012, the distance between the archer and the target was 70 m. The diameter of the target was 1.22 m with scores from one to ten. Matches in the elimination tournament were decided over five sets of three arrows, the winner of each set getting two points, with one point each for a tie and nothing for the loser. If matches were tied, a single arrow shoot-out would decide the winner, the closest arrow to the center determining the victor.

The competitions in Rio confirmed the Korean Olympic archery superiority that had prevailed since 1988. For the first time, all four gold medals (and one bronze medal), went to Korea. In second place was the United States with one silver and one bronze medal. Of the previously strong nations, Russia won just one silver, while Italy and the People’s Republic of China returned empty handed. The four golds in Rio made archery Korea’s most successful sport overtaking short track speed skating at the Winter Olympics.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Individual, Men Olympic 5 – 12 August 2016 64 40
Team, Men Olympic 5 – 6 August 2016 36 12
Individual, Women Olympic 5 – 11 August 2016 64 40
Team, Women Olympic 5 – 6 August 2016 36 12
128 (64/64) 56 (40/40)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Individual, Men Gu Bon-ChanKOR Jean-Charles ValladontFRA Brady EllisonUSA
Team, Men Republic of KoreaKOR United StatesUSA AustraliaAUS
Individual, Women Jang Hye-JinKOR Lisa UnruhGER Gi Bo-BaeKOR
Team, Women Republic of KoreaKOR Russian FederationRUS Chinese TaipeiTPE

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Republic of Korea KOR 4 0 1 5
United States USA 0 1 1 2
France FRA 0 1 0 1
Germany GER 0 1 0 1
Russian Federation RUS 0 1 0 1
Australia AUS 0 0 1 1
Chinese Taipei TPE 0 0 1 1