Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms and bows/crossbows.
Skeet shooting is a recreational and competitive activity where participants use shotguns to attempt to break clay targets which two fixed stations mechanically fling into the air at high speed and at a variety of angles.
The International Shooting Sport Federation recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: rifle, pistol, shotgun and running target.
The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) is the governing body of the Olympic shooting events. It also regulates several non-Olympic shooting sport events. The Federation's activities include regulation of the sport, managing Olympic qualification events and quota places, as well as organization of international competitions such as the ISSF World Cup series and ISSF World Championships.
The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation. World Shooting Championships began in 1897, after the successful 1896 Summer Olympics, and although the ISSF was not founded until 1907, these early competitions are still seen by the organization as the beginning of a continuous row of championships. By this logic, the 2006 competition in Zagreb was called the 49th ISSF World Shooting Championships. These championships, including all ISSF shooting events, are held every four years since 1954. For the shotgun events only, there is an additional World Championship competition in odd-numbered years. These extra competitions are not numbered. In running target, there will be World Championships in Olympic years.
Olympic Skeet is a variant of skeet shooting, and the specific variant used in the Olympic Games. The discipline is sanctioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation. Two throwing machines at different heights launch a series of 25 targets in a specific order, some as singles and some as doubles, with the shooter having a fixed position between them. Both men's and women's competitions consist of five such series. The top six competitors shoot an additional series as a final round, on targets filled with special powder to show hits more clearly to the audience. The competitors use shotguns of 12 bore or smaller. allowed are all actions, including double barrel breech loaders, semi-automatic or others, but not pump action guns.
Olympic Trap is a shooting sport discipline contested at the Olympic Games and sanctioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation. Usually referred to simply as "trap", the discipline is also known in the United States as international trap, bunker trap, trench or international clay pigeon. It is considered more difficult than most other trap versions in that the distance to the targets and the speed with which they are thrown are both greater.
Men's trap shooting was one of the fifteen shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics. It was held on 20 and 21 July 1996 at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex. there were 58 competitors from 41 nations, with each nation having up to three shooters. Michael Diamond of Australia won, setting two new Olympic records, ahead of two Americans. After the regular 150 targets, it took a marathon shoot-off to separate the silver and bronze medalists; after both shooters had hit 27 straight targets, Josh Lakatos hit his 28th while Lance Bade missed. It was the first medal in the men's trap for Australia; the United States had most recently been on the podium in the event in 1984.
Trap was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was the last Olympic trap competition open to both men and women. It was held from 31 July to 2 August 1992 at the Mollet del Vallès. There were 54 competitors from 36 nations, with each nation having up to 3 shooters. The competition consisted of a qualification round of 150 targets, a semifinal of 50 targets for the top 24 competitors, and a final of 25 targets for the top six. Petr Hrdlička and Kazumi Watanabe both hit 219 of the 225 targets, with Hrdlička winning the gold medal shoot-off. One hit behind, another shoot-off determined the bronze medalist, with Marco Venturini defeating Jörg Damme. Hrdlička's victory was the first gold medal for Czechoslovakia in the trap, shortly after the nation won its first medal in the event. Watanabe's silver was Japan's first medal in the trap. Venturini put Italy back on the podium after a one-Games absence in 1988 broke a four-Games medal streak in the event.
The European Shooting Championships are the continental championships for ISSF sport shooting disciplines in Europe, including 10m air rifle and air pistol, cartridge rifle and pistol. Sometimes the competition also includes trap shooting, skeet and running target shooting events, usually organized in special championships.
Shooting competitions at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo were originally scheduled from 25 July to 3 August 2020, due to the postponement of the Summer Olympics to 2021, the rescheduled dates were on 24 July to 2 August 2021 at the Asaka Shooting Range. Unlike in 2016, the number of shooters competing across fifteen events at these Games had been reduced from 390 to 360, with an equal distribution between men and women. Furthermore, several significant changes were instituted in the Olympic shooting program, including the substitution of three male-only events, with the mixed team competitions.
The trap was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on 18 and 19 October 1968 at the shooting ranges in Mexico City. 55 shooters from 34 nations competed. For the first time, the event was open to women as well as men. Nations were limited to two shooters each. The event was won by Bob Braithwaite of Great Britain, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal of any color in the trap since 1908. Silver went to Thomas Garrigus of the United States. Kurt Czekalla of East Germany took bronze; it was the first medal in the event for East Germany as a separate nation, and the first medal for any German trap shooter since 1912.
Stephen Thomas "Steve" Haberman is an Australian sport shooter. He captured the men's double trap title at the 1995 ISSF World Shotgun Championships in Nicosia, and had the opportunity to represent Australia in two editions of the Olympic Games. Haberman currently trains for Echuca Ghil Target Club in his native Geelong, under Azerbaijani-born coach and three-time Olympic skeet shooter Valeri Timokhin.
Timothy Kneale is a Manx sport shooter who specializes in the double trap. He is the current world record holder for the event, having scored 148 out of 150 at the 2014 ISSF World Cup meet in Munich, Germany. Apart from his world-record feat, Kneale has won two medals in a major international competition, a silver at the 2015 World Shotgun Championships and a bronze as a representative of the Isle of Man team at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India.
The men's ISSF Olympic trap event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 28 and 29 July 2021 at the Asaka Shooting Range. Approximately 30 sport shooters from 20 nations are expected to compete in the trap, with the precise number depending on how many shooters compete in multiple events.
The shotgun is the name of the sport discipline assigned in the international shooting sports competitions, organized by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF), which includes the three clay shooting disciplines of trap, double trap and skeet.
The 2021 European Shooting Championships were held from 22 May to 5 June 2021 in Osijek, Croatia. 1,473 athletes from 52 countries competed.
British Shooting is the national governing body for ISSF shooting sport disciplines in the United Kingdom. The organisation serves as a single shooting body to receive public funding from UK Sport and Sport England, administer high performance squads and talent pathways as well as serve as the member body for shooting sports with organisations such as the British Olympic Association and ISSF.
Shooting competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to take place from 27 July to 5 August 2024 at the National Shooting Center in Châteauroux. Unlike in the previous Olympics, the number of shooters competing across fifteen events at these Games has been reduced from 360 to 340, with an equal distribution between men and women. Furthermore, several significant changes are instituted in the Olympic shooting program, including the new final format and the substitution of the mixed team trap competitions with the mixed team skeet.
The 2022 World Shotgun Championships were held from 19 September to 12 October 2022 in Osijek, Croatia. The championships are a major qualification event for the 2024 Olympic Games, with quota places for the Games being distributed in both men's and women's individual trap and skeet competitions.
