Are Compound Bows Allowed in the Olympics? Yes, From LA28
Not historically — every Olympic archery medal since 1972 has been won with a recurve. That changes at Los Angeles 2028, where a compound mixed team event debuts as the first archery medal of the Games.
By the Archery Care Editorial Team
Not until now. Every Olympic archery medal from Munich 1972 through Paris 2024 was won with a recurve bow. No cams. No release aids, no magnified scopes. That streak ends at Los Angeles 2028: in April 2025 the IOC Executive Board added a compound mixed team event to the LA28 programme — the first new bowstyle in Olympic archery since the sport rejoined the Games over 50 years ago.
Better still, compound goes first. The LA28 schedule puts the compound mixed team final on 21 July 2028, two days after the qualification round — which makes it the first archery medal awarded at the entire Games.
Why the Olympics stayed recurve-only for 50 years
Timing, mostly. Archery was dropped from the Games after 1920 because no two countries shot to the same rules. By the time it returned at Munich 1972, the recurve was the agreed international standard — and the compound, invented by Missouri bowhunter Holless Wilbur Allen in the 1960s, was still hunting gear rather than a discipline. World Archery didn't add compound to its own World Championships until 1995.
Philosophy did the rest. Critics argued that a bow with cams, a magnified scope and a mechanical release shifts the contest away from human effort and toward engineering. World Archery spent years pushing back, pointing to packed compound fields at World Cups and the World Games. The IOC eventually agreed. Partly.
What makes a compound different enough to argue about
Hold one at full draw and you'll get it. A competitive compound takes up to 60 pounds of force to draw, but the cams shed most of that at the back wall — World Archery puts the holding weight as low as 13 pounds. A recurve archer holds every pound while aiming. The compound archer holds a fraction of it, aims through a scope magnified between two and eight power, and triggers the shot with a release aid instead of fingers.
Arrows leave a tournament compound at over 350 kilometres per hour. Accuracy follows, so the formats diverge hard:
- Recurve: 70 metres at a 122cm target face with a 12.2cm ten-ring, matches decided by the set system
- Compound: 50 metres at an 80cm face with an 8cm ten-ring, matches decided on cumulative score
That shrunken ten-ring is the whole story. Compound shooters are consistent enough that the format drops sets entirely — every arrow counts toward the raw total, and matches often come down to millimetres.
What actually changes at LA28
Archery grows to six medal events. The compound mixed team — one man and one woman per country — joins the five recurve events: men's and women's individual, men's and women's team, and the recurve mixed team that debuted in Tokyo. Under World Archery rules, a compound mixed team match runs 16 arrows per team, highest total wins.
The key dates: qualification opens Wednesday 19 July 2028, and the compound mixed team finals follow on Friday 21 July at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
No individual compound medals yet, which will sting if you follow the discipline. But a mixed-team-only debut is exactly how recurve's own mixed event entered the programme, and a strong showing in LA could open the individual argument for 2032.
Does this change what you should buy?
Probably not. The compounds in most pro shops — and most of the ones we score, like the Mathews ARC 34 or the Hoyt Carbon RX-10 — are hunting bows, built for speed and forgiveness in a treestand rather than 50-metre target work. Our scored compound lineup runs roughly $1,300 to $2,149 with IBO speeds of 338 to 357 fps; an Olympic-style target compound is a longer, more deliberate machine built around World Archery's 60-pound ceiling. Different tool, same addiction.
If the recurve side of the broadcast hooks you instead, that path is cheap to test. A Samick Sage or Galaxy riser tells you whether you actually enjoy the discipline for well under the price of any flagship compound; something like the Hoyt Xceed or WIAWIS ATF-DX is where you go once you're sure. Run a draw length calculator before ordering anything — that number matters more than the brand on the riser.
Circle 21 July 2028 either way. First archery gold of the Games. First compound gold ever.