Hi everyone, this is NUSensei.
Many of us who are just joining in and seeing Olympic archery for the first time may
be alarmed to see how much stuff goes on an Olympic recurve and you might think
oh that looks ugly or it's unnecessary or excessive and if you don't like the
sort of thing then I'm not here to change your mind. However, it is easy to
become prejudiced against things that we don't understand. The goal of this video is
to explain what goes on the Olympic bow and why it's used and you may be
surprised to see that there isn't actually that much difference between
this bow and what you might be used to. Those of us who know a bit about archery
in history will know that a bow is basically a stick and a string. So, it's
something like this. This is an unstrung longbow (flatbow) and it is literally a stick.
This particular bow is not a historical bow but you might recognize the shape as
something which is more or less very similar to what would have been used
throughout history and there's nothing wrong with this bow. Many people enjoy
the sort of thing and it can be handmade at home so there is a very big appeal to
this. While this bow can be shot perfectly fine, it's not the most
appealing thing, especially if you're a modern shooter and you're picking up
archery. This is not the easiest thing to use. Bows like this were used at the
early modern Olympic Games. It's only during the 50s and 60s and 70s that we
see a shift in design thanks to materials, manufacturing and machining.
For a modern-day archer, a traditional bow looks something like this. This is
the Fred Bear takedown recurve, a revolutionary design for its time.
While it does have some modern features like the ability to take the bow apart thanks
to its locking limb system, it is an all wood bow and for traditional shooters,
this is perhaps the upper limit to what you consider to be real archery.
Bows like this were the epitome of traditional design and many a field
shooter or hunter will be very familiar with this kind of bow.
It is basically a fancy stick and string. As time goes on so do the advances. We see
bows and arrows transform from wood to aluminium and then to carbon. What we
have here is the Win & Win Inno CXT, a top-line modern target competitive
bow. While it might look very fancy, functionally it's the same as what we
saw before. In this configuration, it is a barebow. It is just the bow and the
string and really that's all there is to it. It is the same way you use a
traditional bow.
Again, traditional bow.
Modern bow.
Modern barebow is still a classification that is used in competition today, mostly in
disciplines like 3D archery, indoor archery and field archery. Meanwhile the
open freestyle division does make use of all the accessories you see at the
Olympic Games. In actuality, there aren't that many additions to the bow and the bow
fundamentally doesn't change that much. We'll go through each add-on and we'll
explain what each one does.
The first addition and perhaps the most important
is the sight. As with any weapons system or platform, the sight provides a static
reference point. Most sights used are actually plain iron sights. Though some
archers will exchange it for an aftermarket design. All sights used in the
Olympic Games are non-magnified. While some might consider using a sight to be
cheating, in fairness, most things today that involve aiming will include some
kind of sight. There is still a very strong push and a large community that
chooses not to use sights. Hence we have the barebow community but even then there
are different methods to sight using the arrow.
The problem with barebow methods is that they have a lot of variation. It is
nearly impossible for an archer to retain the exact same sight picture and
execute the same shot without a sight. There is a lot of fun and
satisfaction in doing so but the reality is that you are more or less spraying
the target within a reasonable grouping for your skill level. The sight removes
much of that guesswork well the archer still has to find the right sight setting
and make the necessary adjustments. It doesn't make the shot easier.
Remember, the archer still has to bring the bow on target and execute the shot normally.
The next component is actually the most obvious one because you see it
first: the stabilizer rods. Many beginners start with one but Olympians tend to use
three plus an extender. The purpose of these rods is to add weight to the bow.
Why would you do that?
A light bow is actually quite hard to hold steady. While
light weight is a good characteristic for practical purposes, for accuracy and
target shooting being too light means that there is a lot more movement with a
lot less effort and that can mean your accuracy is thrown out the window thanks
to a muscle twitch or a slight hesitation. Adding weight to the bow
makes it more stable. Barebow shooters will make use of small weights but
Olympic style shooters can go the extra step. The stabilizer rods basically add
stabilization. Many of you will recognize this concept as three axis stabilization.
It helps the archer maintain the bows balance in three directions and for
those who use rifles or even cameras you will greatly appreciate what a big
difference stabilization makes. Again, it doesn't
help make the shot easier. I still have to bring the bow on target, pull it back
and execute the shot.
Except now it's a whole lot heavier.
Tthe last addition is the smallest but it's actually the most important for an Olympic shooter.
It's the clicker. Many people ask about what this tiny rod in front of the arrow does.
Often it's a rod like this but more often it's a strip of aluminium or
carbon like this and it goes just in front of the arrow in this position.
If you see these slow-motion replays of Olympic archers you'll see this move and
the arrow gets released. What does it do? One of the big difficulties that an archer
has is consistent draw length. The way you pull the string back and where you
stop must be exactly the same. Any difference here will result in a very
large difference in velocity and therefore shot placement. For a
traditional shooter with no shooting aids they have to do it by feel.
A modern archer uses the clicker to tell them when they're at the right point.
They pull the arrow through the clicker it goes off and they automatically let go.
It is still an action they must take but this is something which removes a very
large variable. Arguably, you might say this is kind of cheating and perhaps to
some people it's more of a shortcut than using a sight. Nonetheless, it is a skill
that must be mastered by both the barebow shooters and the Olympic archers. Clicker
control is actually much harder than it looks and while, yes, we do have a way to
tell us when to let go, getting it through the clicker is a whole different
challenge. And again, the point that I really want to reinforce is while all
these extra aids will make it easier for the archer to do certain things, whether
it's sighting on target or keeping the bow steady or controlling the shot placement,
the shot is still 100% the archer. The bow does not shoot itself.
What changes instead is the expectations and the standards. A barebow shooter will
not expect to shoot perfectly every single time. There will be inherent
variations which they can't really control. So, if you're shooting a round of,
say, 720 points, a barebow shooter that gets 500 points is doing a very very good job
and most of the legendary barebow shooters will probably get around this range or
slightly higher. However, an Olympic freestyle shooter who gets a 500 out of
720 is having an extremely bad day. That standard is nowhere near good enough.
They expect to get 600 and above for the minimum qualifying score. So
again, the shooting expectations are different. The quality of the shot must
be maintained regardless of whether you shoot a barebow or an Olympic bow.
So in the end, an Olympic shooter is fundamentally doing the same thing as a
barebow shooter or traditional shooter or whatever style you might recognize.
Archery at its basis is using a bow to hit a target. While the accessories may
make certain things easier, it still comes down to the user.
This is NUSensei.
I hope you find it interesting. Thank you for watching. I'll see you next time