What Shooting Events Are In The Olympics?
| DISCIPLINES | MEN’S EVENTS | WOMEN’S EVENTS | MIXED TEAM EVENTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| RIFLE | 50m Rifle 3 Positions, 10m Air Rifle | 50m Rifle 3 Positions, 10m Air Rifle | 10m Air Rifle |
| PISTOL | 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, 10m Air Pistol | 25m Pistol, 10m Air Pistol | 10m Air Pistol |
| SHOTGUN | Trap, Skeet | Trap, Skeet | Trap |
The Summer Olympics, which are held every four years, feature a variety of Olympic Shooting Events. In total there are 15 different shooting events across three different disciplines of guns: rifles, pistols, and shotguns.
Organization of Events
There are roughly 300 athletes that compete in these 15 different events, and these events are then split up into Men, Women, and Mixed Team. The different disciplines of guns also have the same events for each gender, but do differ as far as the Mixed events, which don't have the skeet event for shotguns, the 50 meter rifle event, and 25 meter pistol event. Each event itself consists of two separate phases, the qualification phase and the final phase/round, in which either the top six or eight shooters depending on event qualify for.
History
The first Olympic shooting events were held in the first modern Olympics in 1896. However, the 1904 and 1928 Olympics in the US and Netherlands, respectively, did not feature shooting events at all.
Over the years there have been many changes and adaptations to shooting in the Olympics, with team shooting events being eliminated in 1948, women first being allowed to compete in 1968, and most recently going from 17 to 15 shooting events total in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing.
FAQ
What is the longest standing shooting event in the Olympics?
The distinction of being the longest standing shooting event in the Olympics is held by the men’s rapid fire pistol event. Rapid-fire pistol shooting has been featured in every Summer Olympics since 1932, and was also featured in the 1896, 1900, 1912, 1920, and 1924 Olympic Games. This longstanding presence in the Olympics accumulated to a total of 26 Olympic Games appearances for this event.
Which Olympic shooting event was most recently added?
The newest shooting events in the Olympics include all three mixed team events. Mixed team air pistol, air rifle, and trap all made their debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. While all of these events had previously been featured in either men’s or women’s events, 2020 was the first time mixed team shooting events were added to the Olympic program. In Tokyo, China took home the gold medal in both the mixed team air pistol and air rifle events, while Spain won gold in the team trap event. In the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris, a mixed team skeet event will replace team trap, with mixed team air pistol and air rifle returning as well.
What country holds the record for the most gold medals in Olympic shooting events?
The record for most gold medals earned in Olympic shooting events, as of the conclusion of the 2020 Olympics held in Tokyo, is the United States. The United States earns this distinction with a grand total of 57 Olympic gold medals secured in shooting events, to go along with 31 silver medals and 28 bronze medals. This ranking will likely not be changing anytime soon, with second place holder China currently sitting at 26 gold medals as of the conclusion of the 2020 Summer Olympics.