Archery really is a historic sport - it is a contest of body and mind control and precision. It can be traced all the way back to ancient times where bow and arrows were used as a weapon in war and to hunt. Archery first appeared at the Olympic Games in 1900 and it appeared at the next five iterations. However, between 1920 and 1972, it was not part of the Games. It has been present since then, with recurve being the only discipline featured. Below we are going to take a look at some great British archers who competed at the Olympics.
William Dod
He was related to Sir Antony Dod, who was in charge of the English archers during the battle at Agincourt, so it was very fitting that he celebrated his 41st year on this planet by winning a gold medal at the 1908 Olympic Games. The weather conditions during the archery event were atrocious, and at one stage it had to be postponed because the conditions were just too dreadful to shoot in. Come the end of day one, Dod was ahead of his competitors by 10 points. Although the conditions improved slightly on the second day, the wind proved a stern test for the competitors and Dod showed his talent by being one of the few who managed to master the conditions. He went on to finish a whopping 47 points ahead of the field.
We are pretty certain that if anybody had a bet on the archery during the 1908 Olympics, they would not have had Dod to win by such a large number of points. In fact, considering the weather conditions, they would probably have been tempted to bet on the event not finishing at all. The next Olympics are coming up in 2021, and if you like to bet on archery then we recommend that you pay a visit to mybettingsite. Closer to the time, they will provide their readers with all the best betting sites for betting on archery, and you would be foolish to not take advantage of their wisdom.
Reginald Brooks-King
Brooks-King competed at the 1908 Olympic Games alongside Dod, and he picked up the silver medal. Although he finished 47 points behind Dod, he still proved that he had plenty of talent with a bow and arrow. As well as his success at the Olympic Games, he also won the British National Championship in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1906 and 1908. Just before he turned 62, he also won the Gold at Grand National Archery Meeting.
Sybil Newall
She also competed at the 1908 Olympic Games, encountering the same difficult weather conditions that the men had to shoot in. At the end of day one, she was in second place, 10 points behind the leader, but on day two she quickly clawed the gap back and eventually went on to win gold by an impressive 43 points. What made this feat even more impressive is the fact that she had only been practicing archery for three years. She was 58 when she won her gold medal, which means that even to this day, she is the oldest woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
Steven Hallard
Hallard by trade is a draughtsman and engineer, but he was also a pretty accomplished archer to say the least. He had a long archery career that spanned four Olympic Games as well as a number of European, World, and Commonwealth championships. He won a silver medal at the 1989 World Championships, and a bronze medal at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. When he retired from the sport, he set up his own company that now specialises in the rental and sale of archery equipment.
Richard Priestman
A bank clerk from Liverpool, Priestman is an avid archer and a pretty decent one at that. He has represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games and although he did not do as well as he would have liked inn the single events, he excelled in the team events and helped Great Britain pick up a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Seoul and in Barcelona. When he stopped competing competitively, he went into coaching and became the coach of England's junior archers. In 2009, he became the coach of the Bangladesh national team.
Simon Terry
Terry competed at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona and picked up two bronze medals, making him the first British archer in history to pick up two medals at the same Olympic Games. After his feat, at the Olympics, he took a break from archery and spent his time driving lorries and racing his beloved motorbikes. He returned to archery action in 2005 and competed for Britain at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. In the individual event he reached the last 32, while in the team event he helped his team reach the last 16.
Sources: https://worldarchery.org/
