Shooting at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol (then called free pistol) was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. It was the second Olympic free pistol competition to feature final shooting, after an abortive attempt in 1960.[1] There were 43 competitors from 31 nations.[2] Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Sorin Babii of Romania, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal in free pistol since 1972. Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden repeated as silver medalist, the second man to earn three medals in the free pistol; four years later, he would become the first to win four medals. Soviet Igor Basinski took bronze.

Men's 50 metre pistol
at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Sorin Babii
VenueTaereung International Shooting Range
Date18 September 1988
Competitors43 from 31 nations
Winning score660 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Sorin Babii
 Romania
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ragnar Skanåker
 Sweden
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Igor Basinski
 Soviet Union
← 1984
1992 →

Background

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This was the 17th appearance of the ISSF 50 meter pistol event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1920 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1936 to 2016; it was nominally open to women from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years. A separate women's event would be introduced in 1984.[3] 1896 and 1908 were the only Games in which the distance was not 50 metres; the former used 30 metres and the latter 50 yards.[4][2]

Four of the top 10 shooters from the 1984 Games returned: gold medalist Xu Haifeng of China, silver medalist (and 1972 gold medalist and 1976 and 1980 top-10 finisher) Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden, bronze medalist Wang Yifu of China, and sixth-place finisher Philippe Cola of France. Also returning after the 1984 boycott were 1976 gold medalist Uwe Potteck of East Germany and 1980 gold medalist Aleksandr Melentyev of the Soviet Union. The reigning (1986) world champion was Sergei Pyzhianov, but he was not on the Soviet team that instead comprised Melentyev and world record holder (and runner-up in the world championship) Igor Basinski.

New Zealand made its debut in the event. Sweden and the United States each made their 15th appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Babii used a Tula TOZ 35.

Competition format

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The competition featured two rounds, adding a final to the event. The qualifying round was the same as the previous competitions: each shooter fired 60 shots, in 6 series of 10 shots each, at a distance of 50 metres. The target was round, 50 centimetres in diameter, with 10 scoring rings. Scoring for each shot was up to 10 points, in increments of 1 point. The maximum score possible was 600 points. Now, however, the top 8 shooters advanced to a final. They shot an additional series of 10 shots, with the score added to their qualifying round score to give a 70-shot total. Ties were broken first by final round score. Any pistol was permitted.[2][5]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Qualifying (60 shots)
World record   Aleksandr Melentyev (URS) 581 Moscow, Soviet Union 20 July 1980
Olympic record   Aleksandr Melentyev (URS) 581 Moscow, Soviet Union 20 July 1980
Final (70 shots)
World record   Igor Basinski (URS) [1]
Olympic record New format [2]

Sorin Babii set the initial Olympic record for the final format at 660 points.

Schedule

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All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date Time Round
Sunday, 18 September 1988 13:00 Qualifying
Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes
1 Igor Basinski   Soviet Union 570 Q
2 Sorin Babii   Romania 566 Q
3 Tanyu Kiryakov   Bulgaria 566 Q
4 Ragnar Skanåker   Sweden 564 Q
5 Gyula Karácsony   Hungary 564 Q
6 Wang Yifu   China 563 Q
7 Arndt Kaspar   West Germany 562 Q
8 Gernot Eder   East Germany 561 Q
9 Uwe Potteck   East Germany 559
10 Zoltán Papanitz   Hungary 559
11 Don Nygord   United States 559
12 Aleksandr Melentiev   Soviet Union 558
Dario Palazzani   Italy 558
14 Benny Östlund   Sweden 557
Jerzy Pietrzak   Poland 557
16 Jean Bogaerts   Belgium 556
Miroslav Růžička   Czechoslovakia 556
Darius Young   United States 556
19 Phillip Adams   Australia 555
Philippe Cola   France 555
Sakari Paasonen   Finland 555
Tu Tai-hsing   Chinese Taipei 555
23 Roberto Di Donna   Italy 554
Lyubtcho Diakov   Bulgaria 554
Alfons Messerschmitt   West Germany 554
Bengt Sandstrom   Australia 554
Fumihisa Semizuki   Japan 554
Xu Haifeng   China 554
29 Min Young-sam   South Korea 552
Bernardo Tobar   Colombia 552
U. G. King Hung   Hong Kong 552
32 Hans Hierzer   Austria 550
33 Bruno Déprez   France 547
34 Paul Leatherdale   Great Britain 546
Undralbatiin Lkhagvaa   Mongolia 546
36 Rolf Beutler   Switzerland 545
Konstantinos Panageas   Greece 545
38 Horst Krasser   Austria 543
39 Carlos Hora   Peru 540
40 Lisandro Sugezky   Argentina 539
41 Greg Yelavich   New Zealand 535
42 Shuaib Adam   Kenya 532
43 Hubert Foidl   Denmark 531

Final

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Rank Shooter Nation Qualifying Final Total Notes
  Sorin Babii   Romania 566 94 660 OR
  Ragnar Skanåker   Sweden 564 93 657
  Igor Basinski   Soviet Union 570 87 657
4 Tanyu Kiryakov   Bulgaria 566 90 656
5 Gernot Eder   East Germany 561 93 654
6 Gyula Karácsony   Hungary 564 90 654
7 Arndt Kaspar   West Germany 562 89 651
8 Wang Yifu   China 563 88 651

References

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  1. ^ "Shooting at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games: Men's Free Pistol, 50 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Men's". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Shooting". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. ^ Official Report, vol. 2, p. 541.

Sources

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