The first Olympic shooting competitions were held in 1896 in Athens. Then only men participated in the competition. Since 1968, women have also started to compete in this discipline.
In the Summer Olympics program, shooting became an independent sport in 1996. Now in this competition 15 sets of awards are played.
Olympic shooting is subdivided into bullet and trap shooting. The first is made from rifled weapons in a shooting range. If pneumatic weapons are used, then shots are fired from a 10-meter distance. For firearms, the distance between the shooter and the target must be 25 or 50 m.
During the men's pneumatic gun shooting competition, athletes shoot 60 times with a pistol and a rifle. Women are given 40 attempts.
Men make 60 shots from a firearm from a distance of 25 and 50 m. Time is counted from a shorter distance. Sportswomen shoot 2 times, 30 times from 25 m.
The third bullet shooting exercise is with a sporting rifle. This discipline, in turn, is divided into two types: from a prone position and from 3 positions. In the first competition, athletes fire 60 shots from 50 m. In the second competition, a series of shots is held: first lying down, then from the knee and finally standing. Men fire 40 shots from each position from a 50-meter distance to the target, and a woman - 20 shots at the same distance. The more points the shooter scores, the closer he will be to victory.
Skeet shooting differs in that it is carried out in the open air at shooting ranges. The weapon used is a smoothbore shotgun. Shooting is carried out at flying targets (skeet). When calculating the results of the performance, the number of broken targets is taken into account. There are several types of stands. Round stands, trench stands and double ladder are used for men's competitions. The championship among women is determined in a round stand and a ladder.
