Editor’s Note: Attorney Kevin D’Amour, the father of Olympian Nicholas D’Amour, will be attending the Paris 2024 Games as a coach for archery. Below, he provides a history of the sport and the venue in which his son will be competing for the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The entry list for Archery at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is now complete. Fifty-three National Olympic Committees have submitted the names of the 128 archers — 64 men and 64 women — who will participate in the archery competitions at the Esplanade des Invalides.
Hôtel des Invalides was built during the reign of Louis XIV in 1687 as a military hospital and retirement home for war veterans. Today, this world-renowned building includes French military history museums and monuments, as well as the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. Directly opposite, the elegant Pont Alexandre III bridge links the site to the Grand Palais on the right bank of the Seine.
In 2024, the Esplanade des Invalides will be the stage for the archery and para archery events, characterized by its north-south orientation. It’s flanked by rows of trees on its west and east sides. Its location at the heart of Paris, in a dedicated area for the Games, promises a unique experience for athletes and spectators.
Archery is one of the oldest sports still practiced today, and is closely linked to the development of human civilization. The earliest evidence of its use comes from South African sites such as Sibudu Cave, where arrowheads dating from approximately 64,000 years ago have been found. The first recorded archery tournaments took place in the People’s Republic of China during the Zhou dynasty (1027‑256 BC). In 1931, the sport evolved around the globe and the international archery federation — now known as World Archery — was founded.
Archery first featured at the Olympic Games at Paris in 1900, and was contested again at the Games in St. Louis (1904), London (1908), and Antwerp (1920) before a 52-year hiatus from the Olympic program. Archery was reintroduced at the Games for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and has remained on the Olympic program ever since. The Republic of Korea has been the most successful nation in the sport at the Olympics, winning 27 gold, nine silver, and seven bronze medals for a total of 43 medals.
This year, among 64 men competing in Paris will be Olympian Nicholas D’Amour of St. Thomas, having qualified at the Pan American Championships in April of this year. Nicholas won a Silver medal at the Championships to win the Olympic quota for the Virgin Islands. He is returning to the Olympics after competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in 2021 due to the pandemic. This will be his first Olympics that will have the crowd and the pageantry that we expect to see at the Olympics.
Only three of 128 archers are from the Caribbean. Nicholas, Alondra Rivera of Puerto Rico and Hugo Franco of Cuba, will be the only archers representing a Caribbean nation.
Nicholas and his Virgin Islands teammates — Eduardo Garcia (Marathon), Kruz Schembri McCord (Fencing), and Max Wilson and Natalia Kuipers (Swimming) — are all looking for podium finishes. All of the Virgin Islands’ athletes have made tremendous scarifies to be able to hold the title of Olympian.
Below are the Paris 2024 Olympics pictograms for Archery, Athletes, Fencing and Swimming.
