Shooting sports Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such ...

have been included at every

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

except at the

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

games.

Summary

Events

Shooting was one of the nine events at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, in 1896. Early competitions included some events now regarded as unusual, such as live pigeon shooting in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

;

dueling A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and la ...

in 1906 and 1908; and numerous events restricted to military weapons. After the 1900 games, the pigeons were replaced with clay targets. In 1907, the

International Shooting Sport Federation The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the Olympic shooting events in rifle, pistol and shotgun ( clay target) disciplines, and of several non-Olympic shooting sport events. ISSF's activities include regulati ...

came into existence and brought some standardizations to the sport. Shooting events were held in 1908, 1912, 1920 and 1924. When shooting was reintroduced in 1932, it consisted of two events. From this, the number of events have increased steadily until reaching the 2000–2004 maximum of seventeen events. The 2008 games had only fifteen. Events marked as "Men's" were nominally open events from 1968 until 1980 (and in shotgun events until 1992), although very few women competed in them. For instance, only five women competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, while the next

Summer Olympics in Los Angeles Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, with ...

, which introduced women-only events, featured 77 female competitors. Two women won medals in mixed events:

Margaret Murdock Margaret Thompson Murdock (born August 25, 1942) is a nurse and former United States Army officer most widely known for her success in international shooting competitions, including a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Murdock is the first ...

, silver in Rifle 3 positions (1976) and

Zhang Shan Zhang Shan (; born March 23, 1968) is a Chinese sports shooter and Olympic champion. Career Zhang Shan was born in the city of Nanchong in Sichuan province in Southwest China. She began shooting skeet at age 16. In 1989, she joined the Chine ...

, gold in Skeet (1992). Events on the current program are listed at the top.

Men's

* Muzzle-loading pistols. * 20 metres, military pistols, professionals. * 30 metres, dueling pistols. * 30 metres, military pistols. * 50 and 100 yards, miniature rifles. * 50 yards.

Women's

Mixed

Nations

Medal table

''Updated after 2020 Olympics''

Multi-participation men

Afanasijs Kuzmins Afanasijs Kuzmins (born 22 March 1947) is a Latvian shooter who won two Olympic medals in the 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol event; gold at the 1988 for the USSR and silver at the 1992 Summer Olympics for Latvia. He also won the 1986 World Championship ...

with nine participations is the recordman in this special classification.

References

External links

Medals by NOC MEN 1896-2008 WOMEN 1976-2008
(ISSF website)
ISSF History - International Shooting Sport Federation
(ISSF Website) {{Sports at the Olympics Sports at the Summer Olympics

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...