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As a fighting and hunting weapon, the bow and arrow was widely used in prehistoric times and throughout the Middle Ages. Archery became a recreational sport in England in the 15th and 16th centuries, after the decline of the bow and arrow as a military weapon.


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Sports

There are 2 general types of longbow: the ordinary, straight-ended bow and the recurved bow. The latter (made of laminated wood, plastic and fibreglass) is most commonly used in archery competition, of which the most popular forms are target archery (shooting at a standard-size target) and field archery (shooting at targets at random distances in the field).

In Canada, archery clubs were formed in the mid-1800s. In 1864, in Ontario, the Yorkville Archery Club staged a tournament, the first record of archery as a sport in Canada. Little is known about organized competition until 1927, when the Canadian Archery Association (later Federation of Canadian Archers) was formed. The first Canadian championships were held in 1931. Ontario was the principal archery province for some years, and it was not until 1951 that the CAA became truly national.

Canadians have done well in international competition. A team was first entered in the 1963 world championships, and the Canadians placed 5th in 1967. Dorothy Lidstone became the first Canadian to earn a world title - the 1969 women's world target archery championship; the Canadian women's team placed 2nd that year. In 1971 the men's team was 3rd in the world and Emmanuel Boucher set a world record for the double 30-m distance.

At the 1973 Championships of the Americas, Les Anderson and Wayne Pullen were gold-medal winners in field archery, and Anderson placed 2nd overall. Lucille Lemay won the 1974 women's field archery world title and the 1975 Championships of the Americas field archery event, and placed 5th in the 1976 Olympics. Canadian men's and women's teams were 2nd in the 1979 Pan-American Games and the 1980 target Championships of the Americas.

The 1982 Championships of the Americas were held in Canada for the first time, in Joliette, Québec. Lisa Buscombe, of Brampton, Ontario, became world field champion in August 1984 in Finland, and on 28 July 1985 won the gold in a field archery event at the World Games in London, England. Canada won a silver medal in individual competition and a team bronze in the 1987 Pan-Am Games. Canada hosted the World Archery Championships for the first time in 1997, and achieved 3rd place in the men's compound team event.


Archery
Athlete taking aim at the Canada Summer Games (Corel Professional Photos).

Author BARBARA SCHRODT


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