Ragnar Skanåker (born 8 June 1934) is a Swedish competitive

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

shooter who was a world-class shooter for an extremely long period. His international breakthrough came in the 1972 Olympics, where he won the 50 m Pistol event. He is mostly associated with this event, the only one in which he has won Olympic medals (four medals distributed over his participation in seven Olympic games, plus the 1982

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

), but he also won the 1983 World Championship in

10 m Air Pistol The 10 metre air pistol is an Shooting at the Summer Olympics, Olympic ISSF shooting events, shooting event governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF). It is similar to 10 metre air rifle in that it is shot with 4.5 mm (o ...

and, surprisingly to most, the 1978 World Championship in 25 m Standard Pistol, with a new world record (that is still a European record). Skanåker's Swedish record in 50 m Pistol is 583, later a world record qualification in 2014 (Jin Jong-Oh, Korea). He has participated in Olympic games in 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996. He would have participated in Athens 2004 thanks to a special invitation from the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

, but the

Swedish Olympic Committee The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC; (, SOK) is the Swedish National Olympic Committee (NOC). The Swedish Olympic Committee organize the Swedish participation in the Olympics, choose the participants and run a support program for swedish elite a ...

decided not to let Skanåker participate due to insufficient results during the year. An upset Skanåker reported that he would be aiming to participate in 2008 instead, the year he turned 74. Over the years, Skanåker has worked as a shooting coach in several countries, and designed shooting-specific equipment, sometimes in cooperation with famous weapon manufacturers such as

Morini The Morini (Gaulish language, Gaulish: 'sea folk, sailors') were a Belgae, Belgic coastal tribe dwelling in the modern Pas-de-Calais, Pas de Calais region, around present-day Boulogne-sur-Mer, during the La Tène culture, Iron Age and the Roman ...

. Today, he still competes although less often at the international level. He also engages in various debates in Sweden. He also promotes the precision glasses he has designed.

Olympic results

References

External links

Official website

Skanåker's profile at ISSF NEWS
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''SOK stoppar Skanåker''
from SVT.se {{DEFAULTSORT:Skanaker, Ragnar 1934 births Living people Swedish male sport shooters Olympic shooters for Sweden ISSF pistol shooters Shooters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1976 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1980 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1984 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1988 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1992 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics People from Säter Municipality Sportspeople from Dalarna County 21st-century Swedish people 20th-century Swedish sportsmen

Olympic results

See also

References

External links