A quick look at the Olympic shooting final medal table shows that China is first with 10 medals (5 golds, 2 silvers and 3 bronzes) out of a total of 45 medals, followed by the Republic of Korea (6 medals: 3 golds and 3 silvers) and the USA (5: 1 gold, 3 silvers and 1 bronze). Italy is fourth, first in Europe, with four medals, including one gold, two silver and one bronze. But shooting sports is not only about medals...
The 2024 Olympics from the perspective of manufacturers of sporting guns, ammunition and equipment
The manufacturers who make the guns, ammunition and equipment required for shooting sports naturally think and act internationally. And that's a good thing, because a precise sporting firearm that helps a talented shooter achieve sporting success somewhere abroad is often involved in the further development of shooting sports in that country (and of course the manufacturer's sales). Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra's Olympic victory with the air rifle in Beijing in 2008 and the desire of young shooters to follow suit was the beginning of a strong upswing in Indian shooting sport in less than 20 years, which has since produced many other top results by Indian shooters. German sporting rifles from Walther and Feinwerkbau, air pistols from Morini and Steyr and shotguns from Beretta are also used by top sports shooters in China. All three male medallists in the 50m rifle 3 positions event shot with a Walther KK500, as did the Swiss gold medallist Chiara Leone and many other competitors in both events. In the 10m air pistol and rapid fire pistol competitions, the finals were almost exclusively dominated by Italian Pardini models.
Olympic Games 2024 Trap and Skeet: top results for Beretta shotguns
Beretta also had an impressive record at the 2024 Olympics: In the trap, skeet and skeet mixed team events, 14 of the 15 medallists shot with a Beretta shotgun from Gardone Val Trompia. Beretta's CEO Franco Gusalli Beretta congratulated the successful shotgun shooters: "We are proud to supply these athletes with the latest models. In turn, their successes are an incentive for us to manufacture the highest quality and most precise products." Other manufacturers, such as Krieghoff, were also able to present their special shotguns in Châteauroux.
The types of ammunition used by the medal winners, from pellets to rimfire cartridges and shotgun shells, are somewhat more complicated to identify at the Olympics. While sports guns can usually be identified on screen, even if the brand names are masked off due to the ban on advertising for non-Olympic companies, the ammunition boxes of the finalists had to be masked neutrally. We therefore provide the corresponding statistics; the manufacturers have their own service people on site, keep statistics and compare them fairly with each other: nobody wants to adorn themselves with other people's feathers in advertising, the service world is small and people know each other. However, many manufacturers had not even travelled to the event because of the rigorous preconditions and restrictions on their service work imposed by the IOC, as is usual at World Cups, for example.
2024 Olympic Games: shooting sports from an international perspective
Luciano Rossi, the President of the International Shooting Sport Federation ISSF, summarised the essence of sport shooting at the closing press conference at the ISSF House in Châteauroux: "There were many unique moments for shooting: Guatemala won the first ever Olympic gold medal in any sport, Nino Salukvadze of Georgia competed in his 10th consecutive Olympic Games, Manu Bhaker is the first Indian athlete in sport to win two medals at the same Games. We can also celebrate the fact that our youngest competitor at these Games was only 15 years old and our oldest 60 years old, returning to the Olympic arena four decades after his first appearance. Shooting is a sport for everyone".
Incidentally, the "Turkish Dad" phenomenon (just google it) is a welcome sign that sport shooting is being accepted worldwide from a media perspective. In just a few days, a harmless picture of the Turkish air pistol shooter Yusuf Dikeç travelling around the web world was modified without sarcasm, malice or anti-gun slogans and republished in numerous motifs. Dikeç himself has now come forward and expressed his delight at having become an Internet meme so unexpectedly and thanked the many new fans who came from all walks of life, not just from the narrow shooting sports bubble.
2024 Olympic Games: our last snapshots from the shooting competitions in Châteauroux
Everything you need to know about shooting at the 2024 Olympics...
...can be found in our overview article of all 13 episodes "Road to Paris" at all4shooters.com
The reports at all4shooters.com of all ten competition days (also in English and Italian):
Olympic Games 2024, Day 3: 10m air rifle, mixed team 10m air pistol and men's trap finals.
Olympic Games 2024, Day 5: 50m rifle 3 positions men's qualification and women's trap final.
Olympic Games 2024, Day 7: women's 50m rifle 3 position final and Day 1 of men's skeet.
Olympic Games 2024, Day 8: men's skeet final and women's skeet qualification Day 1, plus women's 25m pistol final.
Olympic Games 2024, Day 9: women's skeet final and men's 25m rapid fire pistol qualification.
Olympic Games 2024, Day 10: Mixed skeet and rapid fire pistol final.
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