Nearly 24-years since Simon Fairweather famously won Australia’s first and only Archery gold medal at the Sydney Olympics, two Aussie archers will be hoping to replicate that famous moment in Paris.
OVERVIEW
Australia has sent at least one archer to every Olympics since it returned to the schedule at the 1972 Munich Games. This continues in Paris with Laura Paeglis and Peter Boukouvalas
both making their Olympic debut.
Australia claimed quota spots in both individual men’s and women’s events and the mixed team event in Paris.
Laura secured her spot in Paris by being part of the 2023 Pacific Games team that won four gold medals in the Solomon Islands.
She has competed in five different qualifying events over the last six months and heads into the Games ranked 56th in the world.

Peter had a breakout year in 2023, winning two silver medals at the Pacific Games as well as finishing 33rd at his debut World Championships.
He also competed in three World Cups where he finished 65th, 17th and 33rd and will be going into Paris with a World Ranking of 67.
ONES TO WATCH
AUSTRALIA
Both Laura and Peter will be aiming to create history in Paris as they attempt to become the first Australian mixed team to make it beyond the qualifying round in Olympic competition.
Australia hasn’t won an individual medal in archery since Tim Cuddihy won bronze in 2004, while Laura will be aiming to match Australia’s best archery finish by a woman which came in 1972 when Terene Donovan finished ninth.
INTERNATIONAL
In the men’s individual competition, world number one Marcus D'Almeida from Brazil is aiming to become his country's first ever Olympic medallist in archery, as well as the first ever medallist from South America.
He achieved Brazil’s best ever Olympic finish in Tokyo by finishing in the top 16, and comes into the 2024 Games having won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Championships and a silver in 2021.
In the women’s individual competition, American world number one Casey Kaufhold could become her country's first individual women’s archery medallist in nearly 50 years by reaching the podium.
If she was to win gold, she would become the first female archer from a non-Asian country to win the event since Keto Losaberidze won gold for the Soviet Union in Moscow 1980.
In the team competitions, South Korea is the nation to watch. The country has never lost the women’s team event since it was introduced to the Olympic schedule in 1988, and has only lost the men’s event three times in the same period.
The mixed team event made its debut in Tokyo 2020 and was also won by South Korea, and the nation is ranked number one in all three team events coming into Paris.
SPORT FORMAT
The Paris Games consists of five events: men's and women's individual, men's and women's team, and mixed team.
There are 128 athletes in total, 64 men and 64 women, and 12 teams of each gender. Any country that has an athlete competing in both the men’s and women’s individual events also competes in the mixed team event.
The competition is split into two phases: qualifying and the Olympic round (head-to-head matches).
The ranking round takes place on the first day of competition and is used to seed athletes, teams and mixed teams for matches. All 64 individuals and all 12 teams participate in the match play phase of the competition, but only the 16 highest-seeded mixed teams qualify for the matches.
The head-to-head matches pit one athlete, team or mixed team against another. Matches at the Olympic Games are decided using the set system. The winner of each match advances to the next round and the loser is eliminated.
There are six rounds in the individual competitions: first round (1/32), second round (1/16), third round (1/8), quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (bronze and gold medal matches).
There are four rounds in the team and mixed team competitions: first round (1/8), quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (bronze and gold medal matches). The four highest-seeded teams receive a bye into the quarterfinals.
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
The archery competition will be held on Thursday 25 July and from Sunday 28 July to Sunday 4 August at the Esplanade des Invalides. Individual ranking rounds take place on 25 July, with the women starting at 5.30pm AEST and the men starting at 10.15pm AEST.
The men’s and women’s individual head-to-head rounds begin on 30 July at 8pm AEST, with the medal rounds taking place on August 3 at 10.33pm AEST (women) and August 4 at 10.33pm (men).
Should Australia qualify for the mixed team head-to-head round, it will begin on August 2 at 5.30pm AEST.
This article was originally written for The Australian Olympic Team. You can read the published version here
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