25 meter rapid fire pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events and is shot with .22 LR pistols. The event has been a part of the Olympic program ever since the beginning in 1896, although its rules changed greatly before World War II, after which they were only slightly changed until the two major revisions of 1989 and 2005. The latter restricted the event to sport pistols, thereby banning .22 Short cartridge as well as encircling grips and low trigger-pull weight. This caused a decline in results, as evidenced by a comparison of the world records under the pre-2005 rules (597) and post-2005 rules (593).
The men's 30 metre dueling pistol was a shooting sports pistol event held as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics shooting programme. It was later standardized by the ISSF to the men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol. It was the third appearance of the event, as it had not been featured at the 1908 Games. The competition was held on Saturday, 29 June 1912. Forty-two sport shooters from ten nations competed. Nations were limited to 12 shooters each. The event was won by Alfred Lane of the United States, in the nation's debut. Sweden, also making its debut, earned the silver and bronze medals.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 6 August 1936 at the shooting ranges at Wannsee. 53 shooters from 22 nations competed. Nations were limited to three shooters each, as they had been since the 1932 Games. The top two places were taken by the hosts, as Germans Cornelius van Oyen and Heinrich Hax won gold and silver, respectively. Hax was the first man to earn multiple medals in the event, repeating his silver performance from 1932. Torsten Ullman of Sweden earned bronze.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1932 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event. The competition was held on August 12, 1932. 18 shooters from 7 nations competed. Nations were limited to three shooters each. The event was won by Renzo Morigi of Italy, with Heinrich Hax of Germany taking silver and another Italian, Domenico Matteucci, earning bronze. They were the first medals in the event for both nations.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1924 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 28 June 1924 at the shooting ranges at Versailles. 55 shooters from 17 nations competed. Nations were limited to four shooters each. Henry Bailey won the United States' second consecutive championship in the event. Sweden also earned the same medal as in 1912, with Vilhelm Carlberg's silver. Lennart Hannelius took bronze in Finland's debut in the event.
The men's 30 metre rapid fire pistol, labeled the "revolver" in the Official Report and often described as a "military pistol" event was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1920 Summer Olympics programme. The International Shooting Sport Federation identified this event as the fourth appearance of an individual 25 metre rapid fire pistol event; it was the second time the distance was 30 metres. In 1896 the distance was 25 metres; in 1900, 20 metres. The competition was held on 3 August 1920. 11 shooters from 3 nations competed. The event was won by Guilherme Paraense in Brazil's debut in the event; it was Brazil's first Olympic gold in any event. American Raymond Bracken took silver, while Swiss shooter Fritz Zulauf earned his nation's first medal in the event.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 15 and 16 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall. There were 19 competitors from 14 nations. The event was won by Oleksandr Petriv of Ukraine, the nation's first medal in the event. Germany took silver and bronze. It was Schumann's fifth and final Olympic medal in the event; with three golds and two silvers, he was individually more successful than any nation other than Germany. After rule changes, new Olympic records were established by Keith Sanderson and Petriv (final).
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held on 20 and 21 September. There were 20 competitors from 17 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Sergei Alifirenko of Russia, the nation's first medal independent of the Soviet Union. Michel Ansermet's silver was Switzerland's first medal in the event since 1920; Iulian Raicea's bronze was Romania's first since 1984.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was one of the fifteen shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Ralf Schumann defended his title from Barcelona, setting two new Olympic records. Schumann was the third man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the rapid fire pistol, and the first to win three or more medals in the event; he would finish with three golds and five total medals. Emil Milev of Bulgaria (silver) and Vladimir Vokhmyanin of Kazakhstan (bronze) each won their nation's first medal in the event, though Vokhmyanin was a repeat bronze medalist, making him the 10th man to win multiple medals in the event. There were 23 competitors from 19 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was the first Olympic rapid fire competition on the new, circular targets, and also the only one in history to feature both a semifinal, consisting of four four-second series for the top eight shooters, and a final, consisting of two additional four-second series for the top four. Afanasijs Kuzmins and Ralf Schumann, who had battled for the gold medal four years earlier, once again clinched the top two spots, although in reversed order. The two were the eighth and ninth men to win multiple medals in the event. Schumann's win was the first victory for unified Germany since 1936, though East Germany had won medals since. Kuzmins earned Latvia's first independent medal. Vladimir Vokhmyanin of the Unified Team finished on the same score as Kuzmins, but a lower final score demoted him to bronze. There were 30 competitors from 23 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. The last Olympic competition on the non-circular target, and the first to feature final shooting, it was won by Latvian Afanasijs Kuzmins after a perfect 300 in the first stage, 298 in the second, and two perfect 50 series in the final, thus not allowing Ralf Schumann and John McNally to eliminate his one-point pre-final lead. It was the first gold medal for the Soviet Union in the event. Schumann comfortably won the silver while McNally fell back during the final with a 47 and a 46, finishing seventh and giving way to a third-place tie between Zoltán Kovács and Alberto Sevieri, resolved in Kovács's favour on grounds of higher final score. The bronze was Hungary's first rapid fire pistol since 1952. There were 32 competitors from 23 nations. Each nation had been limited to two shooters since the 1952 Games.
The ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Józef Zapędzki of Poland set an Olympic record of 595 to defend his gold medal. He was the first shooter to defend the gold medal, in this event, since Károly Takács of Hungary defended his gold at the 1948 and 1952 games. Ladislav Falta of Czechoslovakia took silver. Viktor Torshin's bronze put the Soviet Union on the rapid fire pistol podium for the fourth time in five Games. There were 62 competitors from 39 nations. The nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event at the 2012 Olympic Games was held on 2 and 3 August 2012 at the Royal Artillery Barracks. There were 18 competitors from 13 nations. The event was won by Leuris Pupo of Cuba. Silver went to Vijay Kumar of India, while Ding Feng of China took bronze. It was the first medal in the event for all three nations. Ralf Schumann missed the final for the first time; he had reached the final in the previous six Games.
The mixed ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol shooting competition at the 1980 Summer Olympics was held on 25 July at the Dynamo Shooting Range in Moscow, USSR. There were 40 competitors from 25 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Corneliu Ion of Romania, the nation's first victory in the event since 1956 and second overall. East German Jürgen Wiefel repeated as silver medalist, becoming the sixth man to win multiple medals in the event. Austria earned its first rapid fire pistol medal with Gerhard Petritsch's bronze.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event at the 2016 Olympic Games took place on 12 and 13 August 2016 at the National Shooting Center. There were 26 competitors from 20 nations. The event was won by Christian Reitz of Germany, the nation's first victory in the event and fifth overall. Reitz, the bronze medalist in 2008, was the 12th man to win multiple medals in the rapid fire pistol. Jean Quiquampoix of France took silver, the nation's first medal in the event since 1900. China took bronze, just as in 2012, this time by Li Yuehong.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 4 August 1948 at the shooting ranges at London. 59 shooters from 22 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three shooters each since the 1932 Games. The event was won by Károly Takács of Hungary, the nation's first medal in the event. Argentine Carlos Enrique Díaz Sáenz Valiente took silver, also his nation's first rapid fire pistol medal. Unlike Hungary and Argentina, Sweden was no stranger to the podium in this event; Sven Lundquist's bronze made it the fourth consecutive time that Sweden competed it earned a medal.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the ninth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 27 and 28 July 1952 at the shooting ranges in Helsinki with 53 shooters from 28 nations competing. The maximum number of shooters per nation was reduced to 2, from 3 in previous Games. The event was won by Károly Takács of Hungary, the first man to successfully defend an Olympic rapid fire title. Hungary also took the second place, with Szilárd Kun earning silver. Gheorghe Lichiardopol of Romania won bronze in his nation's debut in the event.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the shooting at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 10th appearance of the event. The competition was held on 4 and 5 December 1956 at the shooting ranges in Melbourne. 35 shooters from 22 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since 1952. The event was won by Ștefan Petrescu of Romania, the nation's first victory in the event. His countryman Gheorghe Lichiardopol repeated as bronze medalist, becoming the third man to win multiple rapid fire pistol medals. Between the two Romanians was Yevgeny Cherkasov with silver, earning the Soviet Union's first medal in the event.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 11th appearance of the event. The competition was held on 8 and 9 September 1960 at the shooting ranges in Rome. 57 shooters from 35 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by William McMillan of the United States, the nation's first victory in the event since 1924 and third overall. Silver went to Pentti Linnosvuo of Finland, similarly taking his nation's first medal since 1924. Aleksandr Zabelin of the Soviet Union earned bronze. The three men had tied for first after the main round of 60 shots and had required a three-way shoot-off to determine the medals.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1984 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on August 1 and 2 at the shooting ranges in Los Angeles. 55 shooters from 31 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Takeo Kamachi of Japan, the nation's first rapid fire pistol medal. Defending champion Corneliu Ion of Romania took silver, the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event. Finland's Rauno Bies earned bronze, the first medal for a Finn in the rapid fire pistol since 1964.
Jean Quiquampoix (FRA)
