South Korean athletes carried home the most archery gold. (Getty Images) (ATR) The Beijing Olympic Green Archery Field isn't an iconic venue like the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens was in 2004 or the Lord's Cricket Ground will be in London in 2012. But the V-shaped, "Court A," hit the bulls-eye as far as providing an intimate setting.
"It's the first time we have such a high and close-by stand," FITA Secretary General Tom Dielen told Around the Rings. "We wanted them even a little bit closer, maybe lower."
The Koreans built an exact replica of the 5,000-seat stadium at their training camp so archers could get used to the proximity of the crowd.
Unlike Court A and the smaller Court B, for the London Games, Dielen said the Olympic venue may return to only one court after the ranking round.
Dielen said officials have analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of having two fields. Only one field would prolong the schedule by one day during the elimination rounds. However, he said archers who competed only on the B field in Beijing "feel a little bit second-class. That is something we are not happy with. Everyone should have the feeling of shooting in front of the big crowd, the video board." FITA Secretary General Tom Dielen. (ATR)
An advantage to having two fields is that all archers can be televised. Athens had one field with four targets, but only two targets were televised.
Shooting for More Interest
Dielen told ATR that the sport is trying to fine-tune its product and might change the way it is scored. FITA is already doing analysis of the subject.
"We may go to three arrows in a set, best of five, like tennis," he said. "It changes in a few cases the outcome, but the perception, if someone does a bad arrow, is different."
Dielen said archery will also work with broadcasters to make the sport more interesting. During the World Cup Final in September in Lausanne, FITA will test the use of heart-rate measurement.
"We can see what the archers are really seeing as pressure," he said. "The other thing we are wanting to do where cost isn't an issue, is show where the archer is aiming in real time. It's not as easy as it might look. We don't want to put something on the archer's bow to change the weight of the bow. We're talking to the universities about how we might do it." FITA President and newly elected IOC member Dr. Ugur Erdener. (ATR)
Plan to Raise the Profile
Dielen said archery has been working since 2005 on a world plan. "The objective of that plan and the vision we have there, is to make archery internationally recognized as an important Olympic sport."
Archery has been trying to drum up attention between the Olympics by forming a World Cup in 2006 "so it's not just discovery every four years that our sport exists," Dielen said. The World Cup is composed of four tournaments and a final. "It was necessary to keep people interested," he said.
Influence Within Olympic Movement
FITA President Dr. Ugur Erdener of Turkey was one of two new IOC members elected at the IOC session in Beijing. He became the second FITA President nominated for IOC membership, following Jim Easton, FITA president until 2006.
Thunderstorms drove spectators out of the Olympic Green Archery Field earlier in the week. (Getty Images) "Our president selected from 110 candidates shows we are on the right way to get that recognition," Dielen said. "This is showing that our sport has progressed quite a lot in the last few years. We are one of the few sports that have more than one representative as IOC members."
Slinging Arrows
A Chinese reporter asked the FITA officials if it was possible to change the rules to limit Korea's stronghold. Korea won five total medals and two golds, while China and Ukraine each won a gold.
"We can't start creating rules to prevent a country from winning medals," Dielen said.
"This would be crazy. Probably the team that is the best in the world to adapt to the rule changes is the Koreans. The reason is they have a very professional approach to the sport."
Dielen said the edge Korea holds is getting smaller and smaller. "They are not as invincible as they have been."
Archery had 49 NOCs qualify for the Olympics, a new record and Dielen remarked the skill level was high.
"We can say without any doubt there is no such thing as a tourist archer at the Olympic Games."
Written by ATR Staff in Beijing For general comments or questions, click here
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