Shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Mixed 25 metre rapid fire pistol explained

Event:	25 metre rapid fire pistol
Games:	1972 Summer
Dates:	August 31 & September 1, 1972
Competitors:	62
Nations:	39
Longnames:	yes
Goldnoc:	POL
Silvernoc:	TCH
Bronzenoc:	URS
Win Label:	Winning score
Win Value:	595
Next:	1976

The ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Józef Zapędzki of Poland set an Olympic record of 595 to defend his gold medal. He was the first shooter to defend the gold medal, in this event, since Károly Takács of Hungary defended his gold at the 1948 and 1952 games.^[1] Ladislav Falta of Czechoslovakia took silver. Viktor Torshin's bronze put the Soviet Union on the rapid fire pistol podium for the fourth time in five Games. There were 62 competitors from 39 nations. The nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games.

As with all shooting events from 1968 to 1980, this event was open to both men and women.

Background

This was the 14th 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 open to women from 1968 to 1980.^[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]

Four of the top 10 shooters from 1968 returned: gold medalist Józef Zapędzki of Poland, fourth-place finisher Christian Düring of East Germany, eighth-place finisher Giovanni Liverzani of Italy, and tenth-place finisher Ladislav Falta of Czechoslovakia. Liverzani was the reigning (1970) world champion, with Falta the runner-up. 1952 silver medalist Szilárd Kun of Hungary competed once again, as did 1960 gold medalist William McMillan of the United States.

Luxembourg, New Zealand, San Marino, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance in the event, most of any nation.

Competition format

The competition format followed the 1948 format, now very close to the modern rapid fire pistol competition after significant variation before World War II. 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.

A holdover from the previous Games was that full-body silhouettes, rather than round targets, continued to be used; however, scoring rings had been added so that now each shot was scored up to 10 rather than being strictly hit or miss.

One change from 1948 to 1956 was that hits were no longer the primary measurement of success. As in 1960–1968, ranking was done by score, regardless of hits.^{[2] [6]}

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.^[6]

Józef Zapędzki beat his own Olympic record with 595 points. Ladislav Falta (at 594 points) was also above the old record, while Viktor Torshin matched it.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 31 August 1972	9:00	Course 1
Friday, 1 September 1972	9:00	Course 2

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	8 seconds	6 seconds	4 seconds	Total	Notes
			200	199	196	595
			200	197	197	594
			199	197	197	593
4			198	197	197	592
5			196	200	196	592
6			199	197	195	591
7			198	196	196	590
8			198	196	196	590
9			200	198	192	590
10			195	198	196	589
11			198	197	194	589
12			198	196	195	589
13			199	198	192	589
14			197	199	191	587
15			196	196	194	586
16			198	197	191	586
17			199	196	191	586
18			198	197	191	586
19			197	192	196	585
20			194	194	195	583
21			197	194	192	583
22			197	196	190	583
23			198	195	190	583
24			200	199	184	583
25			197	198	187	582
26			195	196	191	582
27			199	197	186	582
28			197	195	190	582
29			195	197	190	582
30			194	197	191	582
31			199	197	186	582
32			198	196	187	581
33			199	199	182	580
34			197	190	192	579
35			199	195	185	579
36			189	197	192	578
37			197	192	189	578
38			197	196	184	577
39			195	195	187	577
40			193	196	188	577
41			195	193	189	577
42			198	199	179	576
43			192	193	188	573
44			194	192	187	573
45			199	195	178	572
46			196	187	188	571
47			195	191	184	570
48			190	194	185	569
49			197	196	175	568
50			192	191	184	567
51			192	195	177	564
52			193	192	178	563
53			188	185	180	553
54			197	187	167	551
55			191	186	171	548
56			192	186	165	543
57			185	180	168	533
58			189	172	172	533
59			180	182	132	494
60			196	147	97	440
—
—	Alejandro Guerra
Tserenjav Ulziibaiar
Yun Gwon Chai

External links

• Official report pgs. 227 - 228

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shooting at the 1972 München Summer Games: Mixed Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418132204/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1972/SHO/mixed-rapid-fire-pistol-25-metres.html. dead. 18 April 2020. 25 January 2016. Sports Reference.
2. Web site: Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Open . Olympedia . 14 December 2020.
3. Web site: Muzzle-Loading Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1896) . Olympedia . 11 December 2020.
4. Web site: Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1936) . Olympedia . 11 December 2020.
5. Web site: Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men (1948) . Olympedia . 11 December 2020.
6. Official Report, vol. 3, p. 227.