Archery

Young adult with a bow and arrow

Over the course of the last three Paralympic Games, Archery has proved to be a sport in which Britain excel.

A sport that is open to virtually everyone, archery has been an Paralympic sport for over thirty years, meaning Great Britain has a fine heritage of talented disability archers. Requiring a steady aim and cool nerves, disability archery offers a great opportunity for you to try something you may never have come across before.

Archery is a test of accuracy, strength and concentration. It is open to men and women with a physical disability. It is practised in over 37 countries world wide and has been a Paralympic sport since 1960.At Paralympic level archers shoot at a 122cm target set at a distance of 70m. There are qualifying rounds followed by an elimination round, culminating in a final round of eight archers. Paralympic disciplines comprise Compound or Recurve bows.

There are three classifications in Archery: Standing (ST) where athletes have full use of their upper limbs, Wheelchair One (W1) which comprises athletes with a disability in all four limbs and Wheelchair Two (W2) where archers have limited mobility in their lower limbs.

In 1992, Antonio Rebollo, an archer with a disability, ignited both the Olympic and Paralympic flames in Barcelona with a fire arrow.