Shooting at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol (then known as free pistol) was one of the fifteen shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics, held on 23 July at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex in Atlanta. There were 45 competitors from 28 nations. It was the first time decimals were used in the 50 metre pistol finals. Boris Kokorev set a new Olympic record after scoring 570 points in the qualification round and 96.4 in the final, winning the gold medal, while places 2 through 5 were occupied by Belarusian and Italian shooters.[1] Russia, Belarus, and Italy all received their first medal in the free pistol. Silver medalist Igor Basinski was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the event.

Men's 50 metre pistol
at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad
Turkmenistan stamp commemorating 1996 Olympic shooting
VenueWolf Creek Shooting Complex
Date23 July
Competitors45 from 28 nations
Winning score666.4 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Boris Kokorev
 Russia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Igor Basinski
 Belarus
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Roberto Di Donna
 Italy
← 1992
2000 →

Background

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This was the 19th 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.[2] 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.[3][4]

Five of the eight finalists from the 1992 Games returned: gold medalist Kanstantsin Lukashyk of the Unified Team (now competing for Belarus), silver medalist Wang Yifu of China, bronze medalist Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden, fifth-place finisher Sorin Babii of Romania, and eighth-place finisher Tanyu Kiryakov of Bulgaria. Skanåker was in his seventh Games, having won gold in 1972, silver in 1984 and 1988, and placing in the top 10 in 1976 and 1980 along with his 1992 final appearance. Wang was also a long-time veteran, earning bronze in 1984 before reaching the finals in 1988 and 1992. Babii was newer, but like Lukashyk and Skanåker had won Olympic gold (in 1988). Kiryakov would go on to win gold four years later; along with the 1996 winner Boris Kokorev, there were 5 past or future gold medalists in the event competing. Wang was the reigning (1994) world champion, with Ukraine's Viktor Makarov the runner-up.

Belarus, the Czech Republic, Kyrgyzstan, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan each made their debut in the event. Sweden and the United States each made their 17th appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Kokorev used a Tula TOZ 35.

Competition format

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The competition featured two rounds, qualifying and final. 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. The top 8 shooters advanced to a final; ties necessary for qualifying were broken by 6th-series score, while other ties were not broken. They shot an additional series of 10 shots, with the score added to their qualifying round score to give a 70-shot total. The 1996 competition added decimal scoring to the final; shots could score up to 10.9 for the final. The total maximum was therefore 709.0. Ties were broken first by final round score. Any pistol was permitted.[4][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 Melentiev (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
Olympic record   Sorin Babii (ROU) 660 Seoul, South Korea 18 September 1988

Boris Kokorev set a new Olympic record for the final round with 666.4 points.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Tuesday, 23 July 1996 12:00 Qualifying
Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes
1 Boris Kokorev   Russia 570 Q
2 Roberto Di Donna   Italy 569 Q
3 Vigilio Fait   Italy 569 Q
4 Igor Basinski   Belarus 565 Q
5 Kanstantsin Lukashyk   Belarus 564 Q
6 Martin Tenk   Czech Republic 564 Q
7 Wang Yifu   China 564 Q
8 Sergio Sánchez   Guatemala 563 Q
6th series: 95
9 Shukhrat Akhmedov   Uzbekistan 563 6th series: 94
Jerzy Pietrzak   Poland 563 6th series: 94
11 Franck Dumoulin   France 560
Kim Sung-joon   South Korea 560
Masaru Nakashige   Japan 560
Marek Nowak   Poland 560
15 Stanislav Jirkal   Czech Republic 559
16 Aleksandr Danilov   Russia 558
Bernardo Tobar   Colombia 558
Alex Tripolski   Israel 558
19 Kolio Zakhariev   Bulgaria 557
20 Sorin Babii   Romania 556
Ján Fabo   Slovakia 556
Tanyu Kiryakov   Bulgaria 556
Viktor Makarov   Ukraine 556
Yuri Melentiev   Kyrgyzstan 556
25 Ben Amonette   United States 555
Oleksandr Bliznyuchenko   Ukraine 555
Ragnar Skanåker   Sweden 555
28 Gérard Fernandez   France 553
Zoltán Papanitz   Hungary 553
30 Phillip Adams   Australia 552
Constantin Tarloiu   Romania 552
Xu Dan   China 552
33 Zsolt Karacs   Hungary 551
34 Tu Tai Hsing   Chinese Taipei 550
35 Hans-Jürgen Bauer-Neumaier   Germany 549
Bengt Sandstrom   Australia 549
37 Artur Gevorgjan   Germany 548
Kim Sung-joon   South Korea 548
39 Neal Caloia   United States 544
40 Pål Hembre   Norway 542
Surin Klomjai   Thailand 542
42 Lennart Andersson   Sweden 538
43 Jakkrit Panichpatikum   Thailand 536
44 Trịnh Quốc Việt   Vietnam 535
45 Jaspal Rana   India 534

Final

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Rank Shooter Nation Qualifying Final Total Notes
  Boris Kokorev   Russia 570 96.4 666.4 OR
  Igor Basinski   Belarus 565 97.0 662.0
  Roberto Di Donna   Italy 569 92.8 661.8
4 Kanstantsin Lukashyk   Belarus 564 96.1 660.1
5 Vigilio Fait   Italy 569 90.8 659.8
6 Wang Yifu   China 564 95.3 659.3
7 Martin Tenk   Czech Republic 564 93.7 657.7
8 Sergio Sánchez   Guatemala 563 94.1 657.1

References

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  1. ^ "Shooting at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games: Men's Free Pistol, 50 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Olympedia – Shooting".
  3. ^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Men's". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  5. ^ Official Report, vol. 3, p. 334.

Sources

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