Athletes competing in archery at the Olympic Games use a recurve bow to propel arrows towards targets set 70 meters away. The targets measure 122cm in diameter, and have 10 concentric scoring rings, separated into five colors.

The inner color, the gold, scores 10 or nine points. (The 10 measures 12.2cm in diameter.) The red scores eight or seven points, blue six or five points, black four or three points, white two or one point.

Athletes shoot 72 arrows, in ends of six, in a ranking round. The athletes’ total scores are used to rank the athletes from one to 64 and give each a seeding for the knock-out brackets.

Individual elimination matches see two athletes shoot against one another. The loser leaves the competition and the winner advances to the next phase. The phases progress until two athletes remain to contest the gold medal final. The two semifinal losers compete for the bronze medal.

Individual matches are decided using the set system. Each set consists of three arrows. The athlete with the highest score in the set – the total of their three arrows – receives two set points. If the athletes are tied, each receives one set point.

The first athlete to six set points wins the match.

If there is a tie after five sets (with a scoreline of 5-5), each athlete shoots a single arrow. The athlete whose arrow lands closest to the middle of the target wins the match.

More Info: worldarchery.org