The 1400 Club

It was the mythical barrier for a FITA Round, as it was shot today at the qualifications in Ulsan. In 2009, the archers made it fell. The assault was given at the Porec World Cup where 15 archers broke it and joined the “1400 Club”. Still, the club is a true prestigious one.  
Clint FREEMAN (AUS)    1440 is the maximum score possible on 144 arrows shot at four different distances. For the men these are 90 metres, 70m, 50m and 30m, whereas for the women it is 70m, 60, 50m and 30m. Shooting 1400 means an average of 9.72 on each arrow shot! In 2006, FITA created a Wall of Fame with the shirt of each archer who broke the 1400 barrier in their category for the first time. A special polo edition commemorated their feat! 

Let’s take a step back in history. In 1972 the highest score at the Olympic Games was 1226 by Ms Doreen WILBER of the USA. In 1983 one had to shoot 1300 points to be on the men’s podium in the World Championships. In 1989 during the World Championships in Lausanne, Ms KIM Soo-Nyung, multi Olympic and world champion, set a score of 1368 which was considered unbreakable. However the performances of the athletes have been increasing ever since. 

Compound Men 
In 1998, Clint FREEMAN from Australia shot 1409 and became the first person to break this magical barrier. He did this with a compound bow which is more precise than a recurve bow. Compound bow was introduced at World Archery Outdoor Championships in 1995. In 2006, the list in chronological order of men archers who have shot 1400 or higher was:  
Name Country Score Notes Clint FREEMAN AUS 1409 (was world record) Ondrik TIBOR HUN 1402
Dejan SITAR SLO 1403
Dave COUSINS USA 1405
Roger HOYLE USA 1414 (was world record) Chris WHITE GBR 1400
Erik NIELSEN DEN 1402
Peter ELZINGA NED 1401 (then held European Record with 1410 in April 2004 and now holds the world record with 1419) Dietmar TRILLUS CAN 1406
Reo WILDE USA 1402
Martin DAMSBO DEN 1401
Patrizio HOFER SUI 1407
 
In 2007 and 2009 the list has grown much bigger. Here are the archers in compound who shot more than 1400 points in FITA registered tournament in 2009.  
Compound Women In 2003 Mary HAMM (born ZORN) from USA became the first woman to shoot above 1400, shooting 1401. She was joined in 2006 by Sofia GONCHAROVA (RUS) at the San Salvador World Cup. Some weeks later Jamie VAN NATTA (USA) broke this score by one point to claim the World Record. In 2007, Amandine BOUILLOT (FRA) set it at 1404 at the Varese World Cup, a mark beaten just days later by Gladys WILLEMS (BEL) who set it at 1411. In September 2007, VAN NATTA regained the world record with 1412 points!  
Recurve Women In 2004 a truly exceptional woman, PARK Sung-Hyun won the Athens Olympic Games. Later on that year at a tournament in Korea, she achieved the unbelievable which was shooting 1405 points with a recurve bow! She is so far the only recurve athlete that has shot above 1400 but her biggest wish when she was awarded the 1400 star was that many archers would join her soon.  
Recurve Men Shooting at 90 metres makes it a bit more difficult for the men. The current world record for men is 1379 hold by OH Kyo-Moon (KOR) since November 2000. There are still 21 points to go to the mythical barrier. Will it be broken? Some say never, some say tomorrow. One thing is sure: a place is reserved in the World Archery Wall of Fame.  
Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication