Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics

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.[1] 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.[2]

Shooting
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Dates25-29 July 1952
← 1948
1956 →

Medal summary

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
rapid fire pistol
details
  Károly Takács (HUN) 579   Szilárd Kun (HUN) 578   Gheorghe Lichiardopol (ROU) 578
pistol
details
  Huelet Benner (USA) 553   Angel Leon de Gozalo (ESP) 550   Ambrus Balogh (HUN) 549
rifle prone
details
  Iosif Sîrbu (ROU) 400   Boris Andreyev (URS) 400   Arthur Jackson (USA) 399
rifle three positions
details
  Erling Asbjørn Kongshaug (NOR) 1164   Vilho Ylönen (FIN) 1164   Boris Andreyev (URS) 1163
running deer
(single and double shot)
details
  John Larsen (NOR) 413   Per Olof Sköldberg (SWE) 409   Tauno Mäki (FIN) 407
300 metre rifle three positions
details
  Anatoli Bogdanov (URS) 1123   Robert Bürchler (SUI) 1120   Lev Weinstein (URS) 1109
trap
details
  George Genereux (CAN) 192   Knut Holmqvist (SWE) 191   Hans Liljedahl (SWE) 190

Károly Takács stunned the world after winning the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event. In 1940, he was known as the most skilled shooter in the Hungarian armed forces and was thought to be a favorite in the event. Unfortunately, Takács lost a portion of his hand in an accident involving a hand grenade during an operation simulation. Despite his full recovery, he was no longer able to shoot with his dominant hand. Takács trained for 12 years, making his weak hand shooting ability as skilled as his dominant hand once was. Eventually, he went on to win gold in this sport, shocking the world in the process and motivating people around the world to overcome adversity.[3]

Participating nations

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A total of 218 shooters from 41 nations competed at the Helsinki Games:[1]

Medal table

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RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1  Norway (NOR)2002
2  Soviet Union (URS)1124
3  Hungary (HUN)1113
4  Romania (ROU)1012
  United States (USA)1012
6  Canada (CAN)1001
7  Sweden (SWE)0213
8  Finland (FIN)0112
9  Spain (ESP)0101
  Switzerland (SUI)0101
Totals (10 entries)77721

References

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  1. ^ a b "Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  3. ^ "KÁROLY TAKÁCS". Olympic.org. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
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