Shooting at the 1980 Summer Olympics – Mixed 50 metre pistol explained

Event:	Mixed 50 metre pistol
Games:	1980 Summer
Venue:	Dynamo Shooting Range
Date:	20 July 1980
Competitors:	33
Nations:	19
Longnames:	yes
Gold:	Aleksandr Melentyev
Goldnoc:	URS
Silver:	Harald Vollmar
Silvernoc:	GDR
Bronze:	Lyubcho Dyakov
Bronzenoc:	BUL
Win Label:	Winning score
Win Value:	581
Prev:	1976
Next:	1984 (men's)

The mixed (or "open") ISSF 50 meter pistol was one of the seven sport shooting events at the 1980 Summer Olympics. There were 33 competitors from 19 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The gold medal was won by Aleksandr Melentyev of the Soviet Union who broke the world record with 581 points. It was the Soviet Union's third victory in the event, second-most behind the United States at four. Melentyev defeated Harald Vollmar of East Germany by 13 points. For Vollmar this was his third Olympic medal in the same event, having won silver at 1976 Montreal and bronze at 1968 Mexico City.^{[1] [2] [3]} Vollmar was the first man to win at least three medals in the free pistol. Lyubcho Dyakov's bronze was Bulgaria's first medal in the event.

Background

This was the 15th 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.^[4] 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.^{[5] [6]}

Three of the top 10 shooters from the 1976 Games returned: gold medalist Uwe Potteck of East Germany, silver medalist (and 1968 bronze medalist and 1972 fifth-place finisher) Harald Vollmar of East Germany, and fifth-place finisher (and 1972 gold medalist) Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden. Moritz Minder of Switzerland was the reigning (1978) world champion and world record holder, but was not competing in Moscow due to the American-led boycott.^[6] Skanåker had been the runner-up.

Ireland, Laos, North Korea, and Zimbabwe each made their debut in the event. Sweden made its 13th appearance, matching the boycotting United States for most of any nation.

Melentyev used a TsKIB SOO MЦ55.

Competition format

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. Any pistol was permitted.^{[6] [7]}

Records

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

Aleksandr Melentyev beat the world record by 4 points, finishing at 581 points.

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Notes
			95	96	98	98	98	96	581
			93	93	93	97	98	94	568
			96	92	93	92	95	97	565
4			91	97	94	93	93	97	565
5			91	98	96	94	95	91	565
6			91	96	92	96	94	95	564
7			90	94	94	95	93	97	563
8			91	94	93	96	94	93	561
9			91	94	89	95	93	96	558
10			89	96	82	92	95	94	558
11			91	92	94	95	92	94	558
			88	92	95	95	97	91	558
13			92	95	90	92	93	95	557
			91	93	94	94	91	94	557
			96	92	95	90	93	91	557
16			91	91	94	93	93	94	556
17			95	90	92	91	95	92	555
18			92	93	91	94	90	91	551
			88	93	90	93	96	91	551
20			91	89	93	93	93	91	550
21			93	95	88	90	90	93	549
22			91	91	90	94	93	89	548
23			89	87	93	96	93	89	547
24			96	87	91	93	95	84	546
25			87	89	87	95	95	92	545
26			93	89	93	88	91	88	542
27			83	92	91	85	89	87	527
28			88	86	81	90	90	89	524
29			84	89	84	84	79	92	512
30			89	85	83	86	84	82	509
31			87	81	89	90	84	76	507
32			84	88	86	80	88	76	502
33			80	81	79	85	81	75	481

Notes and References

1. Web site: Moscow 1980 Shooting - Olympic Results by Discipline.
2. Web site: IOC - International Olympic Committee Olympics.com.
3. Web site: Shooting at the 1980 Moscow Summer Games: Mixed Free Pistol, 50 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418021051/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1980/SHO/mixed-free-pistol-50-metres.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . Sports Reference . 11 February 2020.
4. Web site: Olympedia – Shooting .
5. Web site: Historical Results. International Shooting Sport Federation. issf-sports.org. 2020-12-15.
6. Web site: Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Open . Olympedia . 15 December 2020.
7. Official Report, vol. 3, p. 533.