Olympic Games

Venues-Archery

The Olympic Green Archery Field

Last Updated: Friday, August 7, 2009 | 11:33 AM ET

Bernice Chan CBC Sports

Archers from the United States and Russia compete in their semi-final for the International Archery Tournament at the Olympic Green Archery Field in Beijing Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007. (Andy Wong/CP Photo)

Athletes competing in archery will have a new but temporary venue to show off their accuracy skills in August.

The Olympic Green Archery Field is located north of the city, north of the National Stadium, or Bird’s Nest. It is near the Olympic Green Hockey Field and Olympic Tennis Center.

It’s easily accessible by bus or subway, with the line opening up in time for the Games.

The archery venue has three fields, a 23-target field for competition warm-up and ranking round; a field for elimination and final rounds; and a field for elimination rounds.

The final competition range forms a “V” shape, with the opening of the “V” facing north. Spectators surround the range on the south, east and west. There aren’t any seats behind the targets for obvious safety reasons. In total there are 5,384 seats.

There is also ample distance between the competitors and viewers to avoid distracting the athletes.

As this is a temporary venue, the stands were made of lightweight steel, making it easy to install and dismantle.

Another aspect about this venue are organizers’ efforts in making the place as “green” as possible. Water conservation is demonstrated at the archery and hockey fields, by using recycled water from two water plants to keep the fields green.

After the Games, the archery and hockey fields will be used as part of the Olympic Green recreation centre project.