Ralf Schumann is a former 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 participated in seven consecutive Olympic Games from 1988 to 2012, setting a new record for most Olympic appearances by a German athlete.
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 trap competition at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on August 14 and 15 at the Markópoulo Olympic Shooting Centre near Athens, Greece. There were 35 competitors from 26 nations, with each nation having up to two shooters.
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 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 men's ISSF 50 meter pistol event at the 2012 Olympic Games took place on 5 August 2012 at the Royal Artillery Barracks. There were 38 competitors from 27 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, the second of his three consecutive victories in the free pistol. He was the first shooter to win two individual free pistol gold medals. It was his third medal in the event, making him the fourth man to earn three free pistol medals. His countryman Choi Young-rae took silver, the first time since 1976 that a nation had finished 1–2 in the event. Chinese shooter Wang Zhiwei received bronze.
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 50 meter pistol event at the 2016 Olympic Games took place on 10 August 2016 at the National Shooting Center. There were 41 competitors from 29 nations. The event was won by Jin Jong-oh of South Korea, his third consecutive victory in the free pistol. He was the only man to win two gold medals in the event, much less three. Jin was also the second man to win four medals of any color in the event, after Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden from 1972 to 1992. Hoàng Xuân Vinh took silver, the first medal for Vietnam in the event. Kim Song-guk's bronze was North Korea's first medal in the free pistol since 2004.
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 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 1964 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 12th appearance of the event. The competition was held on 19 October 1964 at the Camp Asaka shooting ranges in Tokyo. 53 shooters from 34 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Pentti Linnosvuo of Finland, the nation's first victory in the event. Linnosvuo was the fourth man to win multiple medals in the event, adding to his 1960 silver; it was his fourth straight Games finishing in the top 5 of the event. Ion Tripșa of Romania took silver, putting that nation back on the podium after a one-Games absence. Czechoslovakia's first rapid fire pistol medal came in the form of Lubomír Nácovský's bronze.
The mixed ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 13th appearance of the event. The competition was held on 22 to 23 October 1968 at the Vicente Suárez Shooting Range in Mexico City. 56 shooters from 34 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Józef Zapędzki of Poland, the nation's first medal in the event and the first of two victories of Zapędzki. Marcel Roșca's silver put Romania on the rapid fire pistol podium for the fourth time in five Games. Renart Suleymanov of the Soviet Union took bronze.
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 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.
The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 1 and 2 August 2021 at the Asaka Shooting Range. Approximately 30 shooters from 20 nations are expected to compete in the rapid fire pistol, with the precise number depending on how many shooters compete in multiple events.
