The level that set a world record in the 1970s would not make the top ten today

The summary today

Two calculations by the same author point the same way, without reaching the size the claim promises, and only the first really addresses the question. It is a model: in 2014 the rating scale a national federation has long used to measure the level of its archers, calibrated so that the world record of the mid-1970s is worth 100 and a beginner about 30, gives that level, with 5 millimetre carbon arrows, 1,322 points out of 1,440, roughly seventeenth in the men's recurve at the first World Cup stage of 2013, where a place in the top twenty took 1,320 points. The second uses real scores: at major international competitions from 2000 to 2014 the trend in the score of the eighth-placed archer in qualification rises by 0.7 points a year over 72 arrows in men's recurve and by up to 2.3 in women's compound, with swings of several points around the line. It covers fifteen years rather than forty, though, and says nothing about the 1970s or the top ten, so it stays as context. The status is therefore transferred: the claim rests on a model that carries a level from then into a competition of today, with today's arrows, and neither calculation says how much of the rise comes from the archers and how much from the equipment.

Also phrased as: "scores of the past"; "the level has gone up"; "it would not be enough today"; "old records against today's scores"

Evidence

• 2014
  For Model Published later

  Model W = D·exp(A·I + B + C·D) with A = 0.027, B = 2.37, C = 0.004 and 5.0 mm arrows, calibrated so that the world record of the mid-1970s is about 100: with an index of 100 the expected scores over 36 arrows are 310 at 90 m, 330 at 70 m, 330 at 50 m and 352 at 30 m, a total of 1,322, about 17th in the men's recurve at World Cup 1 in 2013, where twentieth place took 1,320 points.

  Analysis of scores and arrow grouping at major international archery competitions · James L Park, James E Larven

• 2016
  Context Archers Published later

  The score of the eighth-placed archer in qualification at major international competitions from 2000 to 2014, 91 competitions across World Cups, World Championships, Olympic Games and Olympic test events, 182 counting men and women separately, with 144-arrow rounds converted to 72: the trend line rises every year by 0.7 points in men's recurve, 1.2 in women's recurve, 1.8 in men's compound, perhaps flattening from 2011, and 2.3 in women's compound, with deviations from the trend of 4.8 to 7.9 points. From the trend the author estimates that a place in the top eight at the 2016 Olympic Games would take 670 points, plus or minus 7, in men's recurve and 656, plus or minus 8, in women's recurve. These are real scores, but they cover fifteen years, not the 1970s, and they do not separate the archers from the equipment.

  Winning major international target archery competitions · James L Park

Status history

1. 2014 Transferred The first and only calculation arrives: a skill model calibrated from beginner to the world record of the mid-1970s says that an archer at that level, with today's arrows, would score 1,322 over 144 arrows, roughly seventeenth in the men's recurve at the first World Cup of 2013. It is a model, not a comparison between real archers from two eras: transferred.
2. 2016 Transferred The first series of real scores arrives: the score for eighth place in qualification at major international competitions from 2000 to 2014 rises on average every year, by 0.7 points in men's recurve and by up to 2.3 in women's compound, over a 72-arrow round. It points the same way as the claim, but it covers fifteen years rather than forty, says nothing about the top ten and does not separate the archers from the equipment: on the more prudent reading it is context, and the status stays at transferred, resting on the 2014 model alone.

Related

Research lines

• 21 studiesDistance, group size and score
• 7 studiesThe arrow that decides

Other claims in this domain

• CorroboratedAbout 150 points on a FITA round separate a club archer from a national-team archer13 studies · 492 archers measuredStatus since 2003
• CorroboratedAn archer's arousal rises with what is at stake, and keeps rising as the competition goes on3 studies · 23 archers measuredStatus since 2011
• CorroboratedArchers are more aroused in competition than in training5 studies · 50 archers measuredStatus since 2025
• CorroboratedAt 70 metres a top archer averages about nine points per arrow7 studies · 72 archers measuredStatus since 2012
• CorroboratedEven in competition at the highest level, most arrows are not tens4 studies · 3,212 archers measuredStatus since 2024

See all claims on competition and scoring