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.
Romania competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. The nation returned to the Olympic Games after having missed the 1948 Summer Olympics. 114 competitors, 103 men and 11 women, took part in 67 events in 15 sports.
Venezuela competed at the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia, and in the equestrian events held in Stockholm, Sweden. Twenty-two competitors, all men, were selected by the Venezuelan Olympic Committee to take part in sixteen events across five sports. The delegation featured no female competitors, for the second time, and won no medals. While most of the Venezuelan athletes did not advance past the qualifying rounds of their sports, there were some good placings in the shooting, with Germán Briceño and Carlos Monteverde finishing in the top 10 of their events.
Argentina at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland was the nation's ninth appearance out of twelve editions of the Summer Olympic Games. Argentina sent to the 1952 Summer Olympics its sixth national team, under the auspices of the Argentine Olympic Committee, 123 athletes, who competed in 77 events in 15 sports They brought home five medals: 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. The flag bearer was Delfo Cabrera, the gold medalist in the immediately previous Summer Olympic Games marathon.
Canada competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 107 competitors, 97 men and 10 women, took part in 74 events in 13 sports.
Egypt competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 106 competitors, all men, took part in 65 events in 14 sports.
The United States competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 286 competitors – 245 men and 41 women – took part in 133 events in 18 sports. They won 76 medals, including 6 podium sweeps; the highest number of medal sweeps in a single Olympiad by one country since World War II and still a record.
Guatemala competed in the Summer Olympic Games for the first time at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 21 competitors, 20 men and 1 woman, took part in 26 events in 6 sports.
With the competitions in shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the Olympic shooting program began its expansion. Three new events were added: 100 metre running deer, 50 metre rifle three positions and trap. In total there were seven events held between 25 and 29 July 1952. No women participated in the 1952 shooting events. This was the first year that a new format was introduced as well: the sights on the guns were now located on the left side of the barrel.
Switzerland competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 157 competitors, 148 men and 9 women, took part in 96 events in 17 sports.
Sweden competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 206 competitors, 183 men and 23 women, took part in 124 events in 17 sports.
Norway competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 102 competitors, 96 men and 6 women, took part in 72 events in 14 sports. Earlier in the year, Norway had hosted the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo.
Finland was the host nation for the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. 258 competitors, 228 men and 30 women, took part in 139 events in 18 sports. The nation won 22 medals.
Athletes from the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. 87 competitors, 77 men and 10 women, took part in 48 events in 11 sports.
Monaco competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. Eight competitors, all men, took part in six events in two sports.
Boris Vasilyevich Andreyev was a Soviet shooter. He won a silver and a bronze medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics, aged 46, in the 50 metre rifle prone and 50 metre rifle three positions, respectively. In the former event, both he and Iosif Sîrbu broke the world record by executing 40 ideal 10-point shots, but Sîrbu outscored Andreyev 33:28 by the number of hits into the central area of the 10-point black circle.
The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 27 July 1952, with 32 shooters from 18 nations competing. Each nation was limited to two shooters. The event was won by Anatoli Bogdanov with Lev Vainshtein in third, as the Soviet Union took both gold and bronze in its debut. Between the Soviets was Robert Bürchler of Switzerland, earning silver.
The men's 50 metre rifle, prone was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 29 July 1952 at the shooting ranges in Helsinki. 58 shooters from 32 nations competed.
The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1956 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 1 December 1956, with 20 shooters from 14 nations competing. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Vasily Borisov of the Soviet Union, the nation's second consecutive victory in two appearances. The Soviets finished 1–2, with Allan Erdman taking silver. Vilho Ylönen of Finland earned the bronze.
The Men's 50 metre rifle three positions event was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 20 October 1964 at the shooting ranges in Tokyo. 53 shooters from 33 nations competed.
