SPORTS

Aluminium Archery at the Olympic Games

Archery is one of the world's oldest sports, enjoyed by both Egyptian pharaohs and ancient Chinese emperors
24 August, 2016
Competitive archery first became part of the modern Olympics in 1900, returning in 1972 after a half-century hiatus.
The 2016 Olympic Games in Rio have now drawn to a close, with South Korea once again maintaining its dominance in the archery competition. While archery as an Olympic sport doesn't have the splash of swimming or the fast-paced energy of floor gymnastics, it is a sport known for a different kind of intensity that the South Korean team has mastered well for nearly three decades. It's that same focus that extends to archery equipment design and modern technology that delivers high performance every time.

Aluminium is a key component of the bows, arrows, and accessories that both amateur and world-class archers rely on, whether they are competing on the high school team or hunting. The metal is an exceptional choice for bow risers, arrow shafts, nocks, and tips because of its light weight, strength and performance. That reliance on aluminium in creating top-flight gear is elevated to an art form when medal competitions are at stake.
Image left: Topbow.net; image right: PSE Archery
At the Olympics, all archery competitors are required to use the powerful recurve bow. Viewed from the side – in archery, the shared point of reference – the limbs of the bow move away from the archer. Connecting them at the vertical core of the bow is the riser, which is usually made of aluminium, carbon fiber, or a combination of the two. Manufacturers like Hoyt specialize in creating recurve bows that meet Olympic Games standards, as well as the expectations of top archers like George Tekmitchov.

Tekmitchov was an internationally competitive archer for the United States in his own right, and a huge fan of the South Korean teams as well. He has coupled his love of the sport with his engineering skills, training his keen eye toward innovation. He helped to design and test recurve bows for Hoyt, and now works at Easton Archery in Salt Lake City. The company makes arrow shafts and components like the Easton X10 – which was used by every single Olympic medal winner at Rio 2016, a point of pride for Easton because every Olympic title since the sport's return in 1972 has been won with an Easton arrow.
Doug Easton himself created the first aluminium arrows in the 1930s, but today's models incorporate carbon fiber to make the arrow fly straight, fast and far. Since Hoyt has owned Easton since the 1980s, there is a lot of collaboration and cross-pollination that helps to deliver these next-generation technologies to bow, arrow, and the spectrum of archery gear design.
Tekmitchov, in a recent interview with Associated Press journalist Pat Graham, outlined the fascinating ways in which technological improvements to the arrow have transferred into other sports and even completely different disciplines. "Ultimately, if you can make a really good set of arrows, everything else is comparatively easy," Tekmitchov said, describing the material science and engineering design that go into the process of building a better arrow – and better golf clubs, baseball bats, tennis rackets and hockey sticks. The advances in the arrow have led to innovations in dentistry, developments based on aerospace engineering, and even the carbon-bonded aluminium sticks used by Motley Crue's drummer.

The arrow, like archery itself, demonstrates how much precision matters. Graham explains that at the Olympics, an arrow will fly 200 feet per second over 70 meters. A deviation of just a ten-thousandth of an inch in the arrow's stiffness can mean a two-ring shift at the target, and the difference between winning and losing. That precision matters to Olympic medalists, to all archers making their mark, and to the product manufacturers working to create the tools they need.
Banner image: the Crossbow Store