Archery on course for historically diverse Olympic competition at Tokyo 2020?

Four countries – including Bhutan – added their first Olympic archery quota places for Tokyo 2020 at the Asian qualification tournament in Bangkok, bringing the total number of nations with spots to 35.

(That number doesn’t include the host, Japan, which receives a full team quota.)

The number of countries represented in archery competitions at the Olympic Games as been steadily increasing since 2008. There were 56 nations at Rio 2016, 55 at London 2012 and 49 at Beijing 2008.

There was a dip in 2004 when the number dropped to 43 from 46 in 2000.

Although the number of countries has increased, the number of athletes competing in the Games has remained the same since 1996 at exactly 128 – 64 men and 64 women.

Under the current qualification rules, there is a theoretical maximum of 79 nations that could compete in a single Olympics. That’s taking into account the host nation receiving the automatic six spots and each team and athlete quota being won by a different country.

There are 47 spots left to be assigned for Tokyo. Six of those will go to Japan. If only new countries win the remaining places (six of which are for teams) then the total number of countries qualified for the next Games would reach 65.

It’s highly unlikely that will be the case but with plenty of Olympic archery-stalwarts still quota-less, we could be heading for the most diverse line-up in history.

The 2020 European Archery Championships in Antalya will award eight spots. Austria, Finland, France, Norway, Poland and Turkey are among the European countries yet to qualify.

The 2020 Pan American Championships in Monterrey has six places to distribute. Chile, Cuba and Venezuela attended Rio but do not have tickets to Tokyo.

The 2020 Oceania Championships in Suva will send one woman and one man to the Games. Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa and Tonga are contenders – especially in the men’s competition where Australia already has a team qualified.

Four places are reserved for universality invitations. All the remaining spots will be distributed at the final world qualification tournament, which will take place at the third stage of the 2020 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin in June​.

Read our beginners’ guide to the Olympic qualification process.

Tokyo 2020 Olympic quotas

Quota places for the archery competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games assigned per country after the world championships, all five continental Games and the Asian Archery Championships.

•  Australia: 3 (3 men)
•  Bangladesh: 1 (1 man)
•  Belarus: 3 (3 women)
•  Bhutan: 1 (1 woman)
•  Brazil: 1 (1 man)
•  Canada: 1 (1 man)
•  Chad: 1 (1 man)
•  China: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
•  Chinese Taipei: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
•  Colombia: 1 (1 woman)
•  Cote d’Ivoire: 1 (1 woman)
•  Denmark: 1 (1 woman)
•  DPR Korea: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Egypt: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Germany: 3 (3 women)
•  Great Britain: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
•  India: 4 (3 men, 1 woman)
•  Indonesia: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Iran: 1 (1 man)
•  Italy: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Kazakhstan: 3 (3 men)
•  Korea: 6 (3 men, 3 women)
•  Malaysia: 1 (1 man)
•  Mexico: 1 (1 woman)
•  Moldova: 1 (1 woman)
•  Mongolia: 1 (1 man)
•  Netherlands: 4 (3 men, 1 woman)
•  New Zealand: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Russia: 3 (3 women)
•  Spain: 1 (1 man)
•  Sweden: 1 (1 woman)
•  Tunisia: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Ukraine: 3 (3 women)
•  USA: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)
•  Vietnam: 2 (1 man, 1 woman)

Individual places available at final qualifier: 3 (2 men, 1 woman)

The qualification period for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games runs until the final quota tournament at the third stage of the 2020 Hyundai Archery World Cup in Berlin, Germany.