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.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August at the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece. This was the last Olympic competition before the major rule changes that took place on 1 January 2005, and which lowered the results of the event. There were 17 competitors from 14 nations.
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.
The shooting competitions at the 1988 Summer Olympics took place in Seoul, South Korea. Competitions were held in a total of thirteen events—seven men's events, four women's events, and two events open to both genders. It was the first games for the 10 metre air pistol events, and the last for the 50 metre running target event, later replaced by 10 metre running target. It was also the first time the Olympic shooting competitions included finals for the top eight competitors.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 17 August at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece. There were 42 competitors from 31 nations.
The men's individual competition with revolver and pistol, distance 50 metres was a shooting sports event held as part of the shooting at the 1912 Summer Olympics programme. It was the fourth appearance of the event, which was the only one to have been featured at every edition of the Games to that point. The competition was held on Monday, 1 July 1912. Fifty-four sport shooters from twelve nations competed. Nations were limited to 12 shooters each. The event was won by Alfred Lane of the United States, completing a double for him with the rapid fire pistol event. It was the United States' second victory in the event. Another American, Peter Dolfen, finished second. Charles Stewart of Great Britain took the bronze medal, the nation's first in the free pistol.
The men's 50 metre pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1936 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 6 and 7 August 1936 at the shooting ranges at Wannsee. 43 shooters from 19 nations competed. Nations were limited to three shooters each, as they had been for all individual shooting events since the 1932 Games. The event was won by Torsten Ullman of Sweden, the nation's first free pistol medal. Erich Krempel of Germany took silver. Charles des Jammonières's bronze was France's first medal in the free pistol since 1900.
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 50 meter pistol event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 12 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall. There were 45 competitors from 32 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, the first of his three consecutive victories in the free pistol. It was his second medal, after taking silver in 2004; he was the 10th man to win multiple medals in the event.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held on 19 September. There were 36 competitors from 27 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. Tanyu Kiryakov won, becoming the first shooter to win Olympic gold medals in both this event and 10 metre air pistol. 2.7 points behind, Igor Basinski won his fourth Olympic medal. Kiryakov's gold was Bulgaria's first free pistol victory, and the first medal of any color in the event for the nation since 1980. Martin Tenk's bronze was the Czech Republic's first medal in the event.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was one of the fifteen shooting events at the 1996 Summer Olympics, held on 23 July at the Wolf Creek Shooting Complex in Atlanta. There were 45 competitors from 28 nations. It was the first time decimals were used in the 50 metre pistol finals. Boris Kokorev set a new Olympic record after scoring 570 points in the qualification round and 96.4 in the final, winning the gold medal, while places 2 through 5 were occupied by Belarusian and Italian shooters. Russia, Belarus, and Italy all received their first medal in the free pistol. Silver medalist Igor Basinski was the ninth man to win multiple medals in the event.
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 his career with three golds and five total medals. Emil Milev of Bulgaria (silver) and Vladimir Vokhmyanin of Kazakhstan (bronze) each won their nation's first medals 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 50 meter pistol was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1992 Summer Olympics. There were 44 competitors from 29 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The competition was held on 26 July 1992 at the Mollet del Vallès shooting range.
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.
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 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 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 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1948 Summer Olympics programme. It was the seventh appearance of the event. The competition was held on 2 August 1948 at the shooting ranges at London. 50 shooters from 22 nations competed. Nations had been limited to three shooters each since the 1932 Games. The event was won by Edwin Vásquez of Peru in the nation's debut in the free pistol. Vásquez is still the only Peruvian athlete to win a gold medal at an Olympic Games. Rudolf Schnyder of Switzerland took silver. Defending champion Torsten Ullman of Sweden earned bronze, the second man to win multiple medals in the event.
The mixed ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the twelfth appearance of the event, and the first where the competition was open to women. The competition was held on 18 October 1968 at the shooting ranges in Mexico City. 69 shooters from 42 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Grigory Kosykh of the Soviet Union in a shoot-off, the nation's second victory in the event. Heinz Mertel of West Germany took silver while Harald Vollmar of East Germany took bronze, with each nation earning a medal in their first competition separate from each other; they were the first medals for any German shooter in the free pistol since 1936.
The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1984 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on July 29, 1984, at the shooting ranges in Los Angeles. 56 shooters from 38 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Xu Haifeng of China, with his countryman Wang Yifu taking bronze. As the free pistol was the first medal event in 1984 and the People's Republic of China fully competed for the first time in 1984, these were the first Olympic medals won by competitors from that nation. Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden took silver, 12 years after winning his first medal ; he was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event and third to win medals 12 years apart.
