The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad and officially branded as Montreal 1976, were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam on May 12, 1970, over the bids of Moscow and Los Angeles. It is the only Summer Olympic Games to be held in Canada. Toronto hosted the 1976 Summer Paralympics the same year as the Montreal Olympics, also the only Summer Paralympics to be held in Canada. Calgary and Vancouver later hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1988 and 2010, respectively. This was the first of two consecutive Olympic games held in North America, followed by the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
Shooting sports have been included at every Summer Olympic Games since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics except at the 1904 and 1928 games.
Rajmond Debevec is a Slovenian sport shooter. He has won three Olympic and ten World Championship medals in shooting. He formerly held the world record in the 50 meter rifle 3 positions event.
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.
Shooting at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal comprised seven events, all mixed. For the first time ever, a woman won an Olympic medal in shooting: Margaret Murdock received silver in the three positions event. Lanny Bassham and Murdock tied for first place, but Murdock was placed second after review of the targets. Bassham suggested that two gold medals be given, and after this request was declined, asked Murdock to share the top step with him at the award ceremony. Women had no separate shooting events at the time and were allowed to compete with men. Murdock became the first woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting.
Malcolm Douglas Cooper, MBE, was a British sport shooter and founder of Accuracy International. Competing in ISSF 50-metre and 300-metre rifle events, he dominated his events for several years, becoming the first shooter to win the Olympic 50-metre three-position rifle event twice. He held or shared five world records in 300-metre rifle events.
Lanny Robert Bassham is an American sport shooter who won a gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics, and a silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Artur Surenovych Ayvazyan is an Olympic shooter for Ukraine and Russia who won a gold medal in the 50 metre rifle prone event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Margaret Thompson Murdock is a nurse and former United States Army officer most widely known for her success in international shooting competitions, including a silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
These are the results of the 50 metre rifle three positions at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The gold medal went to John Writer of the United States, who was the silver medalist in 1968. He went on and broke the world record with a score of 1166 points. The silver medalist was also from the United States, Lanny Bassham, who got off to a poor start, but recovered well enough to claim silver. Bassham returned 4 years later to claim gold in the same event.
The mixed ISSF 50 meter pistol was one of the seven sport shooting events at the 1980 Summer Olympics. There were 33 competitors from 19 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The gold medal was won by Aleksandr Melentyev of the Soviet Union who broke the world record with 581 points. It was the Soviet Union's third victory in the event, second-most behind the United States at four. Melentyev defeated Harald Vollmar of East Germany by 13 points. For Vollmar this was his third Olympic medal in the same event, having won silver at 1976 Montreal and bronze at 1968 Mexico City. Vollmar was the first man to win at least three medals in the free pistol. Lyubcho Dyakov's bronze was Bulgaria's first medal in the event.
The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 5 and 6 August 1948, with 36 shooters from 13 nations competing. Each nation was limited to three shooters. The event was won by Emil Grünig of Switzerland, the nation's first victory in the event since 1900 and second overall. Silver went to Pauli Janhonen of Finland and bronze to Willy Røgeberg of Norway.
The mixed 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 10th appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 23 October 1968, with 30 shooters from 16 nations competing. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Gary Anderson of the United States, the only person to successfully defend an Olympic title in the event. It was the United States' third gold medal in the event, most of any nation. Valentin Kornev extended the Soviet Union's podium streak in the event to five Games with his silver. Swiss shooter Kurt Müller took bronze.
The Mixed 50 metre rifle three positions event was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fifth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 21 October 1968 at the shooting ranges in Mexico City. 62 shooters from 35 nations competed.
The mixed ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1976 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 15th appearance of the event. The competition was held on 22 and 23 July 1976 at the Olympic Shooting Range, L'Acadie in Montreal. 48 shooters from 30 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. East Germany did the most possible with that two-shooter limit, taking gold and silver. They were the first rapid fire pistol medals for East Germany and the first medals for any German shooter in the event since 1936. Roberto Ferraris of Italy earned the bronze medal, the nation's first medal in the rapid fire pistol since 1932.
The mixed ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1976 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 18 July 1976 at the shooting ranges in Montreal. 47 shooters from 31 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Uwe Potteck, with East Germany finishing 1–2 as Harald Vollmar took silver. It was East Germany's first victory in the event. Rudolf Dollinger of Austria repeated as bronze medalist. Vollmar and Dollinger were the fifth and sixth men to win multiple medals in the free pistol. Potteck had only begun the sport 23 months prior to his victory and his previous personal best in domestic competitions was a 568. In addition, his practice scores leading up to the games averaged around 563 to 565.
The mixed 50 metre rifle, prone was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1976 Summer Olympics programme. It was the thirteenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 19 July 1976 at the shooting ranges in Montreal. 78 shooters from 45 nations competed.
Marlies Ray is a retired sport shooter from East Germany. She was twice world champion.
The free rifle is a group of events held at the Olympics, beginning in 1896 and continuing to the current programme. Current nomenclature drops the "free" and refers to the event type as the "rifle." The women's 50-metre version has also been called the "standard" and "sport" rifle. The "free" rifle is distinct from the military, air, and small-bore rifle events.
