Archery is a sport of precision consisting in launching an arrow with a bow so that it reaches a target as close as possible to its center (called bull's eye).
Initially, archery was used for defense purpose before the invention of firearms, because; unlike swords or any weapons with a blade, it allows you to injure or kill an enemy from a distance of more than ten meters.

Archery is also practiced during competitions where arrows travel at speeds of up to several hundred kilometers per hour to hit the target as close from the center as possible, just like for darts. In addition, arrows and bows may be of variable size from around ten centimeters to almost 2 meters of diameter!

The bow was presumably invented during the Mesolithic (or late Paleolithic) period. Bows were also used in the Egyptian culture. Before being a precision sport, archery was an art used mostly in hunting and combat by “classical civilizations” such as the Persians, Assyrians, Indians, Chinese, Korean, Japanese.

In mythology, archers are often deities (supernatural immortal beings), among which Cupid (whose arrows spread love among mortals), Diana (Goddess of the hunt), Artemis and Apollo.
The world of tales is filled with archers, the most famous being William Tell (who is known for having shot an apple out of his son's head) and Robin Hood (a British outlawed stealing from the wealthy to redistribute to the poor).
Archery was first introduced in the 1990 Summer Olympics and 13 times since them with a total of 83 nations represented.