Shooting from the raised finals platform increases body sway
1 study · archers measured
The summary today
Only one piece of work has measured it, a poster produced with elite Australian archers in the run-up to Rio 2016: twelve arrows at 70 metres from the ground and twelve from a platform built to replicate the one used in Olympic finals, with a pressure mat under the feet. On the platform the left foot sways more both sideways (p = 0.027) and forwards and back (p = 0.001), and the overall centre of pressure sways more forwards and back (p = 0.017) but not sideways, while the right foot does not change. The result therefore points two ways, more sway on the left foot and no change on the right, and that is why the status is contested. The weight of the evidence is small in any case: the poster does not say how many archers it measured, publishes neither means nor effect sizes, compares two measurements on the same archers with an independent-samples test and does not record the score. Whether that extra sway costs points, then, nobody has yet seen.
Also phrased as: "the finals platform makes you sway"; "shooting on the finals stage"; "raised platform and balance"; "the olympic stage takes away stability"
In practice
It is said that the finals platform takes away stability underfoot, and that it should therefore be tried in training before an archer meets it in competition.
Evidence
-
2016
For Archers Published later
Elite Australian archers preparing for Rio 2016, twelve arrows at 70 metres per condition on a Tekscan pressure mat, from the ground and from a raised platform built to replicate the one used in Olympic finals: on the platform the left foot sways more sideways (p = 0.027) and forwards and back (p = 0.001). The poster reports neither the number of archers nor the means.
Targeting Rio: Enhancing the daily training environment in Archery using technology · Daniel Chalkley, Georgia Giblin, Gert-Jan Pepping
-
2016
For Archers Published later
For the overall centre of pressure, under both feet, the platform increases forward-and-back sway (p = 0.017) but not sideways sway, which does not change significantly. The two conditions are compared with independent-samples t tests, even though the archers are the same.
Targeting Rio: Enhancing the daily training environment in Archery using technology · Daniel Chalkley, Georgia Giblin, Gert-Jan Pepping
-
2016
Against Archers Published later
The right foot shows no significant difference in either direction, and sideways the overall centre of pressure does not change either: for this part of the body the platform does not increase sway. The arrows' scores are not recorded, so the work does not say whether the extra sway costs points.
Targeting Rio: Enhancing the daily training environment in Archery using technology · Daniel Chalkley, Georgia Giblin, Gert-Jan Pepping
Status history
- 2016 Contested Elite Australian archers preparing for Rio shoot twelve arrows at 70 metres from the ground and twelve from a platform replicating the Olympic one: on the left foot sway increases in both directions (p = 0.027 and p = 0.001) and the overall centre of pressure sways more forwards and back (p = 0.017), while the right foot does not change. The same work therefore points two ways, and counts once in favour and once against: contested. It is a poster, it does not state how many archers were measured and it does not record the score.
Related
Related articles
Research lines
Cite
Campagna, M. (2026). Shooting from the raised finals platform increases body sway (Version 2). In Evidence Registry. Retrieved 16 October 2026, from https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/finals-platform-postural-sway
@misc{campagna2026_pedanafinalioscillazione,
author = {Campagna, Matteo},
title = {Shooting from the raised finals platform increases body sway},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {Evidence Registry, matteocampagna.com},
url = {https://matteocampagna.com/en/registry/competition/finals-platform-postural-sway},
note = {Version 2; accessed 2026-10-16}
}
Follow this claim
RSS is an address you paste into a feed reader: each time this claim changes status, adds a year to its history or is revised, a new item appears there.
Registry updates by email
At most one email a month, sent only when something has changed: claims that change status, new claims, Lab predictions registered or resolved, new studies and new books.
Sign-ups are handled by Systeme.io, the service that runs the newsletter. Every email has a link to unsubscribe with one click.
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