Archery at the 2016 Summer Paralympics was held between 10 and 17 September 2016 at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí[1] in the Maracana zone of Rio de Janeiro, and consisted of nine events.[2] Although featuring the same number of events as in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, their make-up changed substantially, with three men's events, three women's events and three events for mixed gender teams. In each category, two events involved the compound bow - one for wheelchair athletes, the other open - with an open event for recurve bow, the bow used for all Olympic events.
Classification
Paralympic archers are given a classification depending on the type and extent of their disability, allowing them to compete against others with a similar level of function. The categories were reduced from three to two for 2016, with the 'standing' category being replaced with an 'open' category which incorporated wheelchair archers previously classfied W2.[3] The W1 classification for wheelchair archers was retained.[2]
The two categories of competition in Paralympic archery in 2016 were:
Open - Athletes have an impairment in the legs and use a wheelchair or have a balance impairment and shoot standing or resting on a stool. Six events featured open category athletes, in both recurve or compound disciplines, using bows falling under standard rules;
W1 - Athletes may have impairment in the legs and make use of a wheelchair. W1 athletes may shoot either a recurve or a compound bow modified from standard rules, across three events. There are no separate competitions for the two disciplines; in practice, competitors will predominantly use a compound bow, as these take less power to wield than the recurve.[1]
A third recognised Paralympic archery classification - V1, for visually impaired archers - did not form part of the competition.[1]
A National Paralympic Committee (NPC) could be allocated a maximum of thirteen qualification slots across the nine events, although the NPCs of the 2015 Para Archery World Champions could be allocated additional slots. A NPC could select a maximum of three archers per individual event.
The majority of quota places were awarded for performances in the 2015 World Championships and the continental qualification events (including the 2015 Parapan American Games). A smaller number were allocated to the host nation, to the highest ranked archers at a Final Paralympic Qualifying tournament, and at the discretion of the International Paralympic Committee's Bipartite Commission.
Mixed team events
There was no direct qualification for the mixed pairs events. A NPC could enter one team (1 man, 1 woman) per event if they had qualified those archers from individual events. Since quota places in individual events were awarded to the top four finishers in the equivalent event at the 2015 World Para Archery Championships in Donau, Germany, a minimum number of teams per event was guaranteed.
Competition schedule
The competition ran from 10 to 17 September. With the exception of 10 September, which was an all-day ranking round for all archers, each day of competition comprised morning and afternoon sessions, with at least one event awarding medals per day.
Great Britain topped the medal table, thanks mainly to their domination of the W1 events, where they won all three golds available and took the only clean sweep of the tournament by winning all three medals in the women's individual W1 event. Outside of the W1 events, China and Iran were the most successful nations, sharing five golds and nine medals between them. Olympic number one nation, South Korea could not match their Olympic success, exiting the Games with three medals, a silver and two bronze.
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