There’ll be more tens at the Olympics in Tokyo than ever before

There are now only 10 days to go until the start of the archery competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Just 10.

That number is certainly the most important – it’s what everyone on the field in Japan will be aiming for 70 metres downrange, time and time again, as they battle for the Olympic Champion titles.

Whoever eventually wins will have shot somewhere between 60% to 70% of their competition arrows into the 10-ring.

They’ll probably have heard ‘ten’ a little more often, though.

The score of ‘10’ in Japanese is pronounced ‘juu’. (In the most common of the multiple counting systems, at least.)

But ‘points’ is pronounced ‘ten’.

Most archery announcers don’t use the word ‘points’ when speaking in English but, in Japanese, the pronunciation of different numbers can sound very similar, making the suffix almost compulsory in competition.

It’s ‘juu-ten’ for 10, ‘kyuu-ten’ for nine and ‘hachi-ten’ for eight, which are the three scores you’ll hear most often.

Of course, with automatic electronic scoring, spotting screens and coaches with scopes standing just behind, it’s unlikely to cause much confusion. Most of these archers know, instantly, whether they’ve hit the middle or not, anyway.

And it doesn’t change what the aim is. A juu-ten with every arrow.