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Olympic Shooting Sports
Shooting Sports have been part of the Olympic Games since the modern Olympic Games began in 1896.
In Athens, Greece during the first Olympic Games shooters competed in two bigbore rifle and three pistol events. Seventeen Olympic events in four Olympic disciplines (rifle, pistol, running target, and shotgun) will be contested at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China
Participation has grown steadily through the years. While only four nations competed in the shooting events in 1896, 423 shooters from one hundred different nations participated at the 1996 Atlanta Games in shooting.
In order for a shooter to compete in the Games, the athlete must shoot a minimum qualification score (MQS) for the respective event at one of the International Shooting Sports Foundation's (ISSF) supervised Championships during the four years between Olympic Games.
Women have been allowed to compete since 1972, participating with men until 1980. At the 1984 Games, they took part in a separate program consisting of three events, but they kept the right to compete with the men in the two mixed events - Olympic trap and skeet until 1992. At the 1996 Games those trap and skeet events were conducted for men only. However, a new event - double trap - was added in 1996 that allowed men and women to compete together.
USA Shooting is the organization responsible for training and selecting the shooting teams to represent the United States at the World Cups, World Shooting Championships, the Pan American Games, the Olympic Games and other international shooting competition. In addition USA Shooting manages development programs and sanctions events at the local, state, regional, and national levels, including the national shooting championships.
The International Shooting Sports Federation is recognized as the world governing body for shooting.
For more information contact:
International Shooting Sports Federation