15 countries fighting for Rio 2016 spots in Americas qualifier
Six guaranteed places to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for nations from the Americas will be awarded at the continental qualifying tournament in Medellin, Colombia, running for the few days prior to the second stage of this year’s Hyundai Archery World Cup.
The only prior opportunity for countries from the continental to qualify was the World Archery Championships in Copenhagen in 2015.
Besides the full, six-athlete team given to Brazil as the host nation, 12 more places were won by Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela and the USA at that primary quota tournament.
Americas Rio quotas – Pre-CQT
- Brazil
– 6 (3 men, 3 woman), host country - Canada
– 1 (1 man) - Colombia
– 4 (1 man, 3 women) - Mexico
– 3 (3 women) - Venezuela
– 1 (1 man) - USA
– 4 (3 men, 1 woman)
The six individual places available in Medellin can only be won by nations without any quota place already clinched in the gender. (So a country with one men’s space can’t add a second, but could go for a women’s.)
Only a maximum of one space can be won. So while nations have entered up to three of each gender in the tournament, all are battling to win just a single space for their National Olympic Committee, who will finally decide who represents the country at the Games. (As well as winning a space, archers must reach a minimum standard of 630 out of 720 points on the ranking round for men, and 600 for women.)
Thirty athletes from 12 nations compete for the three recurve men’s quota places in Medellin, while 14 athletes from seven nations shoot for the three recurve women’s spots.
With five countries from the continent already qualified in the men’s competition, the tournament marks an impressive opportunity for the second, and fast-improving, tier of Americas archery to claim valuable Olympic berths.
“This is a very important tournament. For each of us in the Argentinian men’s team it could be massive, as it could be our first chance to qualify someone for the Olympics,” said Ignacio Escalante. “We are really looking forward.”
The only previous Olympics in which Argentinian archers competed was Seoul 1988, when there was no qualification procedure.
World Archery Americas CQT – Entries
- Argentina
– 3 (3 men) - Bolivia
– 3 (3 men) - Canada – 3 (3 women)
- Chile
– 3 (3 Men) - Cuba
– 6 (3 men, 3 women) - Dominican Republic
– 2 (1 man, 1 woman) - Ecuador
– 3 (3 men) - El Salvador
– 4 (3 men, 1 woman) - Guatemala
– 3 (2 men, 1 woman) - US Virgin Islands
– 2 (2 women) - Mexico – 3 (3 men)
- Puerto Rico
– 3 (3 men) - Trinidad and Tobago
– 2 (2 men) - Uruguay
– 1 (1 man) - Venezuela – 3 (3 women)
“This is an important tournament for us, Mexico; we want to get a place in the men’s competition as the women have already qualified a team,” said Juan Rene Serrano, a veteran of the last three Games. “Then we’ll go to Antalya, try and get the men’s team place and go to Rio with a full squad.”
The final chance for nations to win quota places to the Games, in both team and individual events, is at the third Hyundai Archery World Cup stage in Antalya, Turkey. Prior to that, the last continental qualifying tournament takes place as part of the 2016 European Archery Championships in Nottingham, Great Britain.
