As a non-Olympic archer and bow-enthusiast, I have yet to understand why Olympic archery includes the "flopping" (my word) of the bow after the shot. Every class I have ever taken insists that you keep your bow arm - with the bow in it - upright for a few seconds after you release your fingers, so as not to skew the shot should the aim change before the arrow is fully released. Is there an Olympic archer out there who knows the reason for the "flopping"?
Its because we don't hold onto the bow handle at all in order to prevent bow torquing. The pressure from the string when pulling back is what is holding the bow in our bow hand, as soon at the string is released the bow will jump out of our hands and is only held back by the wrist strap or by the finger sling. After that the weight of the stabilizer will cause the bow to lean forward. Since this action is from the bow movement it cuts down on human error which could be caused by gripping the bow handle. Apologize a head of time if I'm wrong but this has been what my coach has been telling me.
LancerEvoMHN Odd. I know you're not supposed to throttle the bow grip, but I've never heard of using the string to bring it to your hand and having a pretty much nonexistent grip. To me, it seems like a pretty extreme step to prevent bow torque... Anyway, I still flinched when the archer dry fires at 1:22
Crossark1 It is correct that the bow arm is kept upright also for olympic archers. What Lancer wrote is correct too. Olympic Archers do have a grip, more precise: olympic archers are taught to select a pressure point for the grip and one aim is also to use the selected pressure point every time you shoot so you get same constant results. This pressure point is the main contact between the bow hand and the bow. By keeping your bow hand open, you prevent irritation of the arrow in the moment when you release the arrow but it still has contact with the string (during acceleration). When keeping a "closed" grip you can interfere the flight of the arrow by movement of the bow hand when the arrow has still contact with the string although the string/arrow has already left the drawing hand. What you call flopping (the tilting of the bow to the front) is caused through the use of a stabilizer. If you detach the stabilizer the bow will tilt backwards with the upper limb in direction of the head of the archer if you keep an open grip. The higher the weight at the top of the stabilizer the stronger the "flopping" will be. At 1:22 it was not a dry fire! After stringing the bow usually the brace height is checked and to achieve the correct measurement you need "warmed up" limbs. This is achieved by pulling the string several times (not shown) and bending the limbs (at 1:14) and also releasing the string but not at full draw (at 1:22). After that a checker is used to see if the brace height is correct, if not the string will be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to shorten or lengthen the brace height. Hope the description isn't too complicated.
Sadly, Thailand treats its Olympic athletes as rare Nation Treasures. The archers are too elite and promoted themselves not the sport. The President of the Bangkok Archery Centre thinks his athletes must win "Gold" to make Archery popular. That is backward thinking and shows in the poor results of the National Archery Team. Thailand needs to grow a sport first and champions will arise naturally. Start by promoting Archery in schools and universities; though grants and donations of equipment. Host and participate in more public competitions and events. Stop making Archery for the elite few!
As a non-Olympic archer and bow-enthusiast, I have yet to understand why Olympic archery includes the "flopping" (my word) of the bow after the shot. Every class I have ever taken insists that you keep your bow arm - with the bow in it - upright for a few seconds after you release your fingers, so as not to skew the shot should the aim change before the arrow is fully released. Is there an Olympic archer out there who knows the reason for the "flopping"?
Its because we don't hold onto the bow handle at all in order to prevent bow torquing. The pressure from the string when pulling back is what is holding the bow in our bow hand, as soon at the string is released the bow will jump out of our hands and is only held back by the wrist strap or by the finger sling. After that the weight of the stabilizer will cause the bow to lean forward. Since this action is from the bow movement it cuts down on human error which could be caused by gripping the bow handle. Apologize a head of time if I'm wrong but this has been what my coach has been telling me.
LancerEvoMHN Odd. I know you're not supposed to throttle the bow grip, but I've never heard of using the string to bring it to your hand and having a pretty much nonexistent grip. To me, it seems like a pretty extreme step to prevent bow torque...
Anyway, I still flinched when the archer dry fires at 1:22
Crossark1
It is correct that the bow arm is kept upright also for olympic archers. What Lancer wrote is correct too.
Olympic Archers do have a grip, more precise: olympic archers are taught to select a pressure point for the grip and one aim is also to use the selected pressure point every time you shoot so you get same constant results. This pressure point is the main contact between the bow hand and the bow.
By keeping your bow hand open, you prevent irritation of the arrow in the moment when you release the arrow but it still has contact with the string (during acceleration). When keeping a "closed" grip you can interfere the flight of the arrow by movement of the bow hand when the arrow has still contact with the string although the string/arrow has already left the drawing hand.
What you call flopping (the tilting of the bow to the front) is caused through the use of a stabilizer. If you detach the stabilizer the bow will tilt backwards with the upper limb in direction of the head of the archer if you keep an open grip.
The higher the weight at the top of the stabilizer the stronger the "flopping" will be.
At 1:22 it was not a dry fire! After stringing the bow usually the brace height is checked and to achieve the correct measurement you need "warmed up" limbs. This is achieved by pulling the string several times (not shown) and bending the limbs (at 1:14) and also releasing the string but not at full draw (at 1:22). After that a checker is used to see if the brace height is correct, if not the string will be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise to shorten or lengthen the brace height.
Hope the description isn't too complicated.
it wasnt a dry fire. a dry fire is way louder than that. pfft
Sadly, Thailand treats its Olympic athletes as rare Nation Treasures. The archers are too elite and promoted themselves not the sport. The President of the Bangkok Archery Centre thinks his athletes must win "Gold" to make Archery popular. That is backward thinking and shows in the poor results of the National Archery Team. Thailand needs to grow a sport first and champions will arise naturally. Start by promoting Archery in schools and universities; though grants and donations of equipment. Host and participate in more public competitions and events. Stop making Archery for the elite few!
MrEye4get I couldn’t agree with you more.