Shooting competitions were held at the London Olympics from the 4th to the 13th day (28 July - 6 August). During this time, 15 sets of awards were played, of which 5 were taken home by rifle shooters - 8 men and 6 women got Olympic medals. The Chinese, Americans and Italians received two awards each, and another 9 countries received one each. The Russians, alas, did not get anything.
Shooting competitions were held in shooting ranges at the Royal Artillery Barracks in the southeast London area of Woolwich. On the first day of the shooting competition, July 28, two sets of awards were played, and one of them was distributed among women who fired from an air rifle at a distance of 10 m. Out of 56 athletes, eight girls reached the final, including one of two Russians - Daria Vdovina, who showed the third result. But she did not succeed in competing for the awards - the Chinese woman I Sylin became the champion and owner of the very first gold medal of the London Olympics. Her compatriot Yu Dan became the third, and the Polish woman Sylvia Bogatskaya won the silver medal.
In another women's discipline, girls had to hit a target with a rifle at a distance of 50 m from three different positions. In this competition, the best was American Jamie Lynn Gray, and next to her on the podium were Ivana Maksimovich from Serbia (2nd place) and Adela Sykorova from the Czech Republic (3rd place). In men, the Italian Niccolo Campriani won the same competition, ahead of the silver medalist Kim Jong Hyun of South Korea and the third American Matthew Emmons. It is curious that Emmons, winner of two previous Olympiads awards, is married to Catherine Emmons, also an Olympic champion and holder of a world record in rifle shooting. But she plays for the Czech Olympic team and became the fourth in the women's competition.
Italian Niccolo Campriani, who has already won gold, competed for the second award in the 10-meter distance shooting and was able to become the second, losing to the Romanian Alin Djordje Moldovyan. And the third place in this discipline was taken by Gagan Narang from India. The men at this Olympiad had one more exercise than the girls - at a distance of 50 m they shot prone. The best of all was the Belarusian Sergei Martynov, who beat Lionel Koks from Belgium and Slovenian Raimond Debevets.
The performance of the Russian rifle team in rifle disciplines (and in all others) can be considered very unsuccessful - no one except Vasily Mosin, who became the third in trap shooting, could climb the Olympic podium.
