Shooting at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol (then known as free pistol) was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1992 Summer Olympics. There were 44 competitors from 29 nations.[1] 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.[1]

Men's 50 metre pistol
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad
Romanian stamp commemorating 1992 Olympic shooting
VenueMollet del Vallès
Date26 July
Competitors44 from 29 nations
Winning score658
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Kanstantsin Lukashyk
 Unified Team
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Wang Yifu
 China
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ragnar Skanåker
 Sweden
← 1988
1996 →

Kanstantsin Lukashyk, a 16-year-old Belarusian, unexpectedly had the pre-final lead. The final became severely interrupted by a pistol malfunction, originally assumed to be a technical fault in the electronic target system, for Tanyu Kiryakov who was second but had to leave the competition short of finishing his ten shots. Lukashyk needed a nine for his last shot, and it broke only seconds before the 75-second deadline, but was a nine indeed, and so the sensation was a fact. Wang Yifu won the silver medal and Ragnar Skanåker, 42 years older than the gold medalist, came third, winning his fourth Olympic medal in this event.[2] Skanåker was the first of two men to win four medals in the event, with Jin Jong-oh accomplishing the feat from 2004 to 2016. Wang was the eighth man to win two medals in the event.

Background

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This was the 18th appearance of the ISSF 50 meter pistol event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1920 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1936 to 2016; it was nominally open to women from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years. A separate women's event would be introduced in 1984.[3] 1896 and 1908 were the only Games in which the distance was not 50 metres; the former used 30 metres and the latter 50 yards.[4][1]

Five of the eight finalists from the 1988 Games returned: gold medalist Sorin Babii of Romania, silver medalist Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden, fourth-place finisher Tanyu Kiryakov of Bulgaria, fifth-place finisher Gernot Eder of East Germany, and eighth-place finisher Wang Yifu of China. Skanåker was a long-time Olympic competitor, having won gold in the event 20 years earlier, placing in the top 10 in both 1976 and 1980, and then taking silver in 1984 and 1988. Wang had been one of the first Chinese medalists, earning bronze in 1984. The 1990 world championship podium had been Spas Koprinkov of Bulgaria, Wang, and Sergei Pyzhianov of the Unified Team (who had won in 1986), all of whom were competing in Barcelona.

Iraq made its debut in the event; twelve former Soviet republics competed together as the Unified Team. Sweden and the United States each made their 16th appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Lukashyk used a Tula TOZ 35.

Competition format

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The competition featured two rounds, adding a final to the event. The qualifying round was the same as the previous competitions: each shooter fired 60 shots, in 6 series of 10 shots each, at a distance of 50 metres. The target was round, 50 centimetres in diameter, with 10 scoring rings. Scoring for each shot was up to 10 points, in increments of 1 point. The maximum score possible was 600 points. The top 8 shooters advanced to a final. They shot an additional series of 10 shots, with the score added to their qualifying round score to give a 70-shot total. Ties were broken first by final round score. Any pistol was permitted.[1][5]

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Qualifying (60 shots)
World record   Aleksandr Melentiev (URS) 581 Moscow, Soviet Union 20 July 1980
Olympic record   Aleksandr Melentyev (URS) 581 Moscow, Soviet Union 20 July 1980
Final (70 shots)
World record
Olympic record   Sorin Babii (ROU) 660 Seoul, South Korea 18 September 1988

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Sunday, 26 July 1992 11:30 Qualifying
Final

Results

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Qualifying

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Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes
1 Kanstantsin Lukashyk   Unified Team 567 Q
2 Tanyu Kiryakov   Bulgaria 567 Q
3 Darius Young   United States 566 Q
4 Ragnar Skanåker   Sweden 566 Q
5 Wang Yifu   China 565 Q
6 Xu Haifeng   China 565 Q
7 István Ágh   Hungary 561 Q
8 Sorin Babii   Romania 561 Q
9 Jerzy Pietrzak   Poland 560
10 Stein-Olav Fiskebeck   Norway 559
11 Kim Seon-il   South Korea 558
Spas Koprinkov   Bulgaria 558
Sakari Paasonen   Finland 558
Tu Tai-hsing   Chinese Taipei 558
15 Benny Östlund   Sweden 557
16 Sergei Pyzhianov   Unified Team 556
Tarek Zaki Riad   Egypt 556
So Gil-san   North Korea 556
19 Ben Amonette   United States 555
20 Gernot Eder   Germany 554
Fumihisa Semizuki   Japan 554
22 Roberto Di Donna   Italy 553
Stanislav Jirkal   Czechoslovakia 553
Bernardo Tobar   Colombia 553
25 Philippe Cola   France 552
26 Alberto Areces   Spain 551
Bengt Sandstrom   Australia 551
28 Hassan Hassan   Iraq 550
Ryu Myong-hyon   North Korea 550
30 Phillip Adams   Australia 549
31 Timo Naveri   Finland 548
Zoltán Papanitz   Hungary 548
33 Hans-Jürgen Bauer-Neumaier   Germany 547
Park Jong-shin   South Korea 547
35 Wilson Scheidemantel   Brazil 545
36 Franck Dumoulin   France 544
37 Dimitrios Baltas   Greece 543
Rodney Michael Colwell   Canada 543
Mamoru Inagaki   Japan 543
Francisco Sanz Cancio   Spain 543
Greg Yelavich   New Zealand 543
42 Dario Palazzani   Italy 538
43 Gilbert King-hong U   Hong Kong 532
44 Shuaib Adam   Kenya 484

Final

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Kiryakov had been tied with Lukashyk for the lead going into the final, but scored only 51 points on his first six shots. He slammed his pistol down in frustration, bending his sight, and then abandoned the rest of the competition.[1]

With one shot left for Lukashyk, Wang, and Skanåker, the Belarusian had 649 points to the Chinese and Swedish shooters' 648. Wang would win any tie-breaker among the three, and Lukashyk would lose any tie-breaker. All three shot a 9 for their final shot. This kept Lukashyk at the top for the gold medal; Wang and Skanåker tied, with Wang receiving the silver based on the final round tie-breaker.[1]

Rank Shooter Nation Qualifying Final Total
  Kanstantsin Lukashyk   Unified Team 567 91 658
  Wang Yifu   China 565 92 657
  Ragnar Skanåker   Sweden 566 91 657
4 Darius Young   United States 566 89 655
5 Sorin Babii   Romania 561 92 653
6 István Ágh   Hungary 561 91 652
7 Xu Haifeng   China 565 87 652
8 Tanyu Kiryakov   Bulgaria 567 51 618

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Men's". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Shooting at the 1992 Barcelona Summer Games: Men's Free Pistol, 50 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  3. ^ "Olympedia – Shooting".
  4. ^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. ^ Official Report, vol. 5, p. 339.

Sources

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