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.
Ralf Schumann is a German 25 m rapid fire pistol shooter. He is a three-time Olympic Champion and twice the World Champion. One of the most decorated shooters of the modern era, he is the first of two sport shooters to have won three Olympic gold medals in one individual event and became the first of three sport shooters to have won three Olympic individual gold medals. He won the gold medals for the 25 metre rapid fire pistol event at the 1992, 1996 and 2004 Olympics and also won two silver medals at this event, becoming the most successful Olympic shooter at this event. Schumann has participated in seven consecutive Olympic Games since 1988, setting a new record for most Olympic appearances by a German athlete.
25 metre center-fire pistol is one of the ISSF shooting events, and is normally a men-only event. Its origin lies in competitions with military-style service pistols, and as such its history dates back to the 19th century.
25 metre pistol, formerly and unofficially still often known as sport pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It was devised as a women's event in the 1960s, based upon the rules of 25 metre center-fire pistol but shot with a .22-caliber sport pistol instead of the larger-caliber guns men used. As with all ISSF pistol disciplines, all firing must be done with one hand, unsupported.
The 50 meter pistol, formerly and unofficially still often called free pistol, is one of the ISSF shooting events. It provides the purest precision shooting among the pistol events, and is one of the oldest shooting disciplines, dating back to the 19th century and only having seen marginal rule changes since 1936. Most of the changes concern distance, caliber, type of pistol, time allowed, and most recently, format of the finals. The target of this event has not changed since 1900, and the 50m distance has remained the standard since 1912. Competitors have been using the small-bore, rim-fire cartridge since 1908. The sport traced back to the beginning of indoor Flobert pistol parlor shooting in Europe during the 1870s, which in turn traced back to 18th century pistol dueling.
The men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 21 August at the Markópoulo 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.
The men's 10 metre air pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on 14 August at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece.
The women's 25 metre pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 18 at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece.
The women's 10 metre air pistol competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 15 at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece.
The Women's 10 metre air pistol event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 10 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall. Natalia Paderina of Russia set a new Olympic record in the qualification round with 391 points out of 400, but entering the final Guo Wenjun was only one point behind and through the last ten shots emerged as the winner. After the competition, Paderina (silver) and Georgian veteran Nino Salukvadze (bronze) posed together; Salukvadze took the opportunity to take a stand for a peaceful solution.
The Women's 25 metre pistol event at the 2008 Olympic Games took place on August 13 at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall. It was won by the reigning World champion, Chen Ying of the host nation, while Otryadyn Gündegmaa won Mongolia's second Olympic medal in shooting ahead of Munkhbayar Dorjsuren who won its first, 16 years earlier, but now competes for Germany.
The men's 10 metre air pistol competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held on 16 September, the day after the opening ceremony. Franck Dumoulin and Wang Yifu both reached 590 points in the qualification round of 60 shots, raising the Olympic record by three points. Although both shooters performed considerably worse in the final, their seven-point gap to the bronze medal was quite safe. Dumoulin outperformed Wang by two points, setting a new final Olympic record.
Following a recent tradition, the women's 10 metre air rifle competition was the first medal event concluded at the 2000 Summer Olympics. It was held on 16 September, the day after the opening ceremony, with the 40-shot qualification round between 09:00 and 10:15 Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10), and the final round of 10 additional shots at 11:00. Kang Cho-hyun equalled the Olympic record in the qualification round but lost her two-point pre-final lead to Nancy Johnson, who thus won the first Sydney gold medal for the United States.
The women's 10 metre air pistol competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held on 17 September. Tao Luna equalled the Olympic record of 390 points in the qualification round, and won 1.7 points ahead of Jasna Šekarić. The host nation won the bronze medal through Annemarie Forder.
The men's 25 metre pistol shooting event at the 2011 Pan American Games was held on October 19 at the Pan American Shooting Polygon in Guadalajara. The defending Pan American Games champion is Sandra Uptagrafft of the United States.
The Women's 25 metre pistol event at the 2012 Olympic Games took place on 1 August 2012 at the Royal Artillery Barracks.
Yuliya Nikolayevna Alipova is a Belarusian-born Russian sport shooter. She is a four-time Olympian and a two-time medalist for the 10 and 25 m pistol events at the 1995 ISSF World Cup in Seoul, South Korea. Alipava is also the wife of Alexey Alipov, who won the gold medal in men's trap shooting at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
The Women's 10 metre air pistol event at the 2016 Olympic Games took place on 7 August 2016 at the National Shooting Center.
The Women's 25 metre pistol event at the 2016 Olympic Games took place on 9 August 2016 at the National Shooting Center.
The women's 25 metre pistol shooting event at the 2015 Pan American Games will be held between the 14 and 15 of July at the Pan Am Shooting Centre in Innisfil.
