Shooting at the 1960 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol explained

Event:	Men's 50 metre pistol
Games:	1960 Summer
Venue:	Umberto I Shooting Range
Dates:	5–6 September
Competitors:	67
Nations:	40
Longnames:	yes
Win Value:	560
Gold:	Aleksey Gushchin
Goldnoc:	URS
Silver:	Makhmud Umarov
Silvernoc:	URS
Bronze:	Yoshihisa Yoshikawa
Bronzenoc:	JPN
Prev:	1956
Next:	1964

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 5 and 6 September 1960 at the Umberto I Shooting Range in Rome. 67 shooters from 40 nations competed.^[1] Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Aleksey Gushchin of the Soviet Union, as the Soviet team finished 1–2 with Makhmud Umarov repeating as silver medalist (the third man to earn multiple medals in the event). Yoshihisa Yoshikawa (who would become the fourth multi-medalist four years later) of Japan took bronze.

Background

This was the 10th 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.^[2] 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.^[3] ^[4]

Three of the top 10 shooters from the 1956 Games returned: gold medalist Pentti Linnosvuo of Finland, silver medalist Makhmud Umarov of the Soviet Union, and sixth-place finisher (and 1936 gold and 1948 bronze medalist and 1952 sixth-place finisher) Torsten Ullman of Sweden. 1952 silver medalist Ángel León Gozalo of Spain and bronze medalist Ambrus Balogh of Hungary also returned. Umarov was the reigning (1958) world champion, with fellow Soviet Aleksey Gushchin the runner-up.

The British West Indies, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, San Marino, Singapore, and Thailand each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its ninth appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the 1900 event.

Gushchin used a Izhmash Isch 1.

Competition format

The 1960 competition introduced a two-round format. In the first round, each shooter fired 40 shots, in 4 series of 10 shots each, at 50 metres. The top 27 shooters in each of the two qualifying groups advanced to the final. The final had each shooter fire 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 in the final was 600 points. Any pistol was permitted. Shoot-offs were held to break ties for top ranks.^[4] ^[5]

Records

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

The 24-year old Olympic record fell to Aleksey Gushchin, who beat it by 1 point with his final round of 560.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Monday, 5 September 1960	9:00	Qualifying
Tuesday, 6 September 1960	9:00	Final

Results

Qualifying

Group 1

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score	Notes
1			376
2			365
3			363
4			360
5			360
6			359
7			359
8			356
9			356
10			354
11			353
12			353
13			350
14			350
15			349
16			348
17			345
18			343
19			343
20			341
21			341
22			337
23			337
24			336
25			334
26			332
27			329
28			328
29			323
30			319
31			289
32			252
33			247
data-sort-value=34	—			data-sort-value=0.000

Group 2

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score	Notes
1			375
2			366
3			363
4			359
5			358
6			355
7			355
8			354
9			352
10			350
11			350
12			348
13			347
14			347
15			346
16			345
17			344
18			344
19			341
20			340
21			340
22			339
23			339
24			337
25			336
26			336
27			332
28			332
29			330
30			325
31			319
32			319
33			271

Final

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Qualifying	Final	Notes
			359	560
			375	552	Shoot-off: 26
			350	552	Shoot-off: 20
4			363	550
5			365	548
6			356	546
7			376	545
8			359	544
9			360	543
10			336	542
11			352	542
12			354	540
13			363	539
14			348	538
15			347	538
16			350	538
17			350	538
18			345	537
19			354	537
20			337	535
21			344	534
22			353	533
23			356	532
24			355	532
25			359	532
26			346	531
27			353	531
28			347	530
29			355	529
30			337	528
31			360	528
32			329	527
33			339	525
34			343	525
35			350	524
36			345	522
37			343	522
38			334	522
39			349	522
40			340	521
41			340	520
42			341	520
43			341	518
44			358	517
45			336	515
46			341	515
47			366	513
48			339	513
49			344	507
50			336	503
51			337	502
52			332	497
53			332	490
54			348	489

Notes and References

Web site: Shooting at the 1960 Rome Summer Games: Men's Free Pistol, 50 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200417182046/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1960/SHO/mens-free-pistol-50-metres.html . dead . 17 April 2020 . 18 May 2015 . Sports Reference.
Web site: Shooting . Olympedia . 24 August 2021.
Web site: Historical Results. International Shooting Sport Federation. issf-sports.org. 2020-12-15.
Web site: Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Men . Olympedia . 15 December 2020.
Official Report, vol. 2, p. 937.