Archery was included in the Olympic Games in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1920. It was one of the first sports in the Olympic history to include events for female competitors, which were introduced at the Games of the III Olympiad at St. Louis (USA) in 1904. After the Games of 1920 archery was taken out of the programme of the Olympics due to a lack of clear-cut rules and the absence of a united international organisation. It only returned to the Olympic Games more than 50 years later at the Games of the XX Olympiad held in Munich in 1972. At the present, archery is part and parcel of the Olympic programme.
Slovak archers only sporadically participate in the Olympic Games. Martin Hámor, a native of Kalinovo, was the first to participate, he competed at Barcelona in 1992. The Slovak Olympic team had to wait 14 years, until the Rio de Janeiro Games, for two archers to qualify, Boris Baláž and Alexandra Longová. Denisa Baránková then qualified for Tokyo. Since 2004 the archery competitions have been held within prestigious venues in the host cities. The Esplanade, a green park opposite to the Les Invalides in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, is one such place.
Paris will host the Olympic Games for the third time (previously in 1900 and 1924). The French were selected to organise the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad at the 131st Session of the International Olympic Committee, which was held in Lima (Peru) on 13th September 2017. Paris agreed to host the Games in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028 as the other candidate cities withdrew their bids.
The Games will take place from 26th July to 11th August 2024 and medals will be awarded in 329 disciplines in 32 sports. In addition to traditional sports, sport climbing, surfing and skateboarding have also remained part of the Games. This edition of the Olympic programme will introduce the new sport of breaking, a solo acrobatic dance. The surfing competitions will be held in Tahiti (Polynesia).
Zdenka Letenayová
