Icelandic archery committee officially founded as national federation

The Archery Association of Iceland (Bogfimisamband Islands) was officially formed on 1 December at a meeting in Reykjavik. The sport had previously been run by a group within the Icelandic National Olympic Committee.

In its prior form, Iceland had been a member of World Archery since 1994.

The new federation’s constitution was passed unanimously and Olafur Gislason was chosen as the association’s first chairman.

Gummi Gudjonsson was elected vice chairman and secretary general, Albert Olafsson as treasurer, and Asdis Lilja Hafthorsdottir and Haraldur Gustafsson as board members.

Board alternates are Astrid Daxbock, Alfred Birgisson, and Kelea Quinn.

Although Iceland has been a member of World Archery for 25 years, the sport’s activity in the Nordic country was limited. Gummi Gudjonsson is credited with reviving interest and the availability of archery from 2012.

There are now 626 active archers in Iceland and around 1000 members of the federation. The country’s population is only 360,000.

Due to the local weather conditions, archery is mostly practised indoors.

“We don’t have the infrastructure to support more active archers, so my focus now has been on tournaments, facilities, coaches and judges for the last few years,” said Gudjonsson. 

This evolution to fully-fledged federation will allow archery in Iceland to receive additional funding from the National Olympic Committee. It will particularly benefit the international team.

Iceland is yet to qualify an archer to the Olympic Games – but did compete at the European Games in 2015 and 2019.

World Archery Iceland is the national archery federation in Iceland.