Fairweather Grabs Archery Gold
Simon Fairweather turned away American opponent Victor Wunderle Wednesday in the finals of the men's individual archery competition. Wietse van Alten of the Netherlands took the bronze medal. Fairweather posted a score of 113 to Wunderle's 106 in the gold medal round.

South Koreans Sweep Women's Archery
The remarkable precision of South Korean archers proved too much for the rest of the world in Tuesday's women's individual competition. Teenager Yun Mi-Jin led a 1-2-3 sweep of the medals, edging teammate Kim Nam-Soon by one point in the final match. Three-time gold medalist Kim Soo-Nyung won the bronze, defeating North Korea's Ok-Sil Choe. It was the first medal sweep of these Olympics.

Olympic Records Fall
Olympic scoring records were set Monday in qualifying rounds for men's individual archery competition. When the dust settled, South Koreans held the top three spots in the individual rankings for the final 16-man tournament. Overall leader Jang Yong-ho scored 172 points with 18 arrows, wiping out the record of 171 established earlier in the day by France's Jocelyn de Grandis.

Meanwhile, Lionel Torres of France -- the tournament favorite coming into the games -- lost in the first round to Christian Stubbe of Germany.

South Korea also qualified the maximum three archers in the women's final 16.
About Archery
Pick up a thumbtack and hold it at arm's length. The head of the tack looks about as big as the target set out for the bow-and-arrow crowd at Sydney. And the bullseye is much, much smaller. Competitive archery, a sport of the utmost precision, has its roots in medieval times, but didn't become a regular Olympic event until 1972, though it appeared now and again between 1900 and 1920.

There are four archery events scheduled -- male and female individual and team competitions. The archers stand 70 meters from their target. In the qualifying rounds, they fire up to 72 arrows -- 12 rounds of six arrows each, with a time limit of four minutes for each set of six arrows. The results of the qualifying rounds produce rankings used in a single-elimination tournament. Competitors are given 40 seconds to shoot individual arrows as the competition proceeds. In team competition, the competitors get just 20 seconds per arrow. The targets are marked by rings, with the outside ring worth one point. The point values increase as arrows strike closer to the bullseye, which is worth 10 points.

The men's team competition shapes up as a battle between host Australia, Italy, Turkey, South Korea and the Netherlands. South Korean women have dominated the team event since its debut in 1988, but Australia is expected to challenge for the gold this time around. Other nations with potent women's teams include Italy, Turkey, China and Germany.

Individual male performers to watch include Australia's Simon Fairweather, France's Lionel Torres and South Korea's Jang Yong-Ho. South Korea's Kim Soo-Nyung, considered the world's best female archer, is coming out of retirement for a shot at gold in Sydney. Her top rivals are Italy's Natalia Valeeva and Turkey's Natalia Nasaridze. Karen Scavotto, an 18-year-old from Enfield, Connecticut, has a shot at an individual medal for the United States.