Shooting at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol

The men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol competition at the 2000 Summer Olympics was held on 20 and 21 September.[1] There were 20 competitors from 17 nations.[2] 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.

Men's 25 metre rapid fire pistol
at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad
Shooting pictogram
VenueSydney International Shooting Centre
Date20 September 2000
21 September 2000
Competitors20 from 17 nations
Winning score687.6
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Sergei Alifirenko
 Russia
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Michel Ansermet
 Switzerland
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Iulian Raicea
 Romania
← 1996
2004 →

Background

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This was the 21st appearance of what had been standardised in 1948 as the men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event, the only event on the 2020 programme that traces back to 1896.[2] The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1928 (when no shooting events were held) and 1908; it was nominally open to women from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years.[3] The first five events were quite different, with some level of consistency finally beginning with the 1932 event—which, though it had differences from the 1924 competition, was roughly similar. The 1936 competition followed the 1932 one quite closely.[4] The post-World War II event substantially altered the competition once again.[5] The 1984 Games introduced women's-only shooting events, including the ISSF 25 meter pistol (though this is more similar to the non-Olympic men's ISSF 25 meter center-fire pistol than the rapid fire pistol).

Six of the eight finalists from 1996 returned: two-time gold medalist (and 1988 silver medalist Ralf Schumann of Germany, silver medalist Emil Milev of Bulgaria, two-time bronze medalist Vladimir Vokhmyanin of Kazakhstan, two-time fourth-place finisher Krzysztof Kucharczyk of Poland, seventh-place finisher Lajos Pálinkás of Hungary, and eighth-place finisher Daniel Leonhard of Germany. Schumann had won the world championship again in 1998 (after winning in 1990 and finishing third in 1994) and held the world records for both qualifying and total; he was heavily favored in this event. Leonhard and Romanian Iulian Raicea had finished second and third at the 1998 worlds.[2]

Belarus made its debut in the event. The United States made its 18th appearance, most of any nation.

Competition format

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The competition format continued to use the two-round (qualifying round and final) format, as in 1988 and 1996.

The qualifying round from 1988 onward was essentially the same as the full competition format from 1948–1984. Each shooter fired 60 shots. These were done in two courses of 30; each course consisted of two stages of 15; each stage consisted of three series of 5. In each stage, the time limit for each series was 8 seconds for the first, 6 seconds for the second, and 4 seconds for the third.

The 1988 tournament had added a two-series final for the top eight shooters; the 1992 competition broke that down to a four-series semifinal for the top eight and two-series final for the top four. In 1996 and 2000, the top eight once again advanced to the final.

In the final, each shooter fired two five-shot series at 4 seconds. Scoring in the final was to 1/10 of a point, with each shot worth up to 10.9 points (for a final round maximum of 109, and total maximum of 709).

The 1992 competition had introduced round targets rather than the silhouettes used from 1948 to 1988 as well as many pre-World War II versions of the event. Score, rather than hits, had been used as the primary ranking method since 1960.[2][6]

Records

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The existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Qualifying records
World record   Ralf Schumann (GER) 597 Munich, Germany 14 June 1995
Olympic record   Ralf Schumann (GER) 596 Atlanta, United States 25 July 1996
Final records
World record   Ralf Schumann (GER) 699.7 Barcelona, Spain 8 June 1994
Olympic record   Ralf Schumann (GER) 698.0 Atlanta, United States 25 July 1996

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Wednesday, 20 September 2000 10:00 Qualifying: Course 1
Thursday, 21 September 2000 10:00 Qualifying: Course 2
Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Two-time defending champion and heavy favorite Schumann received a two-point penalty for unsuccessfully protesting a score of 8 on a shot, barely qualifying for the final and putting him 3 points behind the three-way tie for the lead (a very difficult score to make up with only 10 shots in the final).[2]

Rank Shooter Nation Course 1 Course 2 Total Notes
1 Iulian Raicea   Romania 291 296 587 Q
2 Sergei Alifirenko   Russia 293 294 587 Q
3 Michel Ansermet   Switzerland 295 292 587 Q
4 Emil Milev   Bulgaria 290 296 586 Q
5 Oleg Khvatsovas   Belarus 295 291 586 Q
6 Afanasijs Kuzmins   Latvia 290 295 585 Q
7 Ralf Schumann   Germany 289 295 584 Q
4-second series, course 2: 100
2 points deducted (scoring protest turned down)
8 Krzysztof Kucharczyk   Poland 292 292 584 Q
4-second series, course 2: 100
9 Daniel Leonhard   Germany 291 293 584 4-second series, course 2: 95
Leuris Pupo   Cuba 293 291 584 4-second series, course 2: 95
11 Iulică Cazan   Romania 292 291 583
12 István Jambrik   Hungary 293 287 580
Vladimir Vokhmyanin   Kazakhstan 289 291 580
14 Lajos Pálinkás   Hungary 291 288 579
15 John McNally   United States 285 293 578
Roman Špirelja   Croatia 290 288 578
17 Nguyễn Trung Hiếu   Vietnam 288 289 577
18 Daniel César Felizia   Argentina 288 283 571
Li Hao Jian   Hong Kong 284 287 571
20 David Chapman   Australia 287 270 557
Zuo Zhong   China DNS

Final

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Schumann's 2-point penalty ultimately cost him the bronze medal; if his protest had been successful, however, he would have been in position to receive silver. Alifirenko's 100.6 gave him the gold medal regardless.

Rank Shooter Nation Qualifying Final Total
Series 1 Series 2 Total
  Sergei Alifirenko   Russia 587 51.0 49.6 100.6 687.6
  Michel Ansermet   Switzerland 587 49.5 49.6 99.1 686.1
  Iulian Raicea   Romania 587 49.6 48.0 97.6 684.6
4 Emil Milev   Bulgaria 586 48.8 49.7 98.5 684.5
5 Ralf Schumann   Germany 584 49.2 50.1 99.3 683.3
6 Oleg Khvatsovas   Belarus 586 46.6 49.8 96.4 682.4
7 Krzysztof Kucharczyk   Poland 584 48.1 50.1 98.2 682.2
8 Afanasijs Kuzmins   Latvia 585 50.4 45.9 96.3 681.3

References

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  1. ^ "Shooting at the 2000 Sydney Summer Games: Men's Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men's". Olympedia. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  3. ^ "Muzzle-Loading Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1896)". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  4. ^ "Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1936)". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1948)". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Pistol". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 December 2020.

Sources

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