Countdown to the next Olympics has started. It’s just one year away until the 2020 Tokyo Summer games. People are already looking forward to seeing their favorite athletes compete in a variety of sports, including competitive shooting.
This is a sport that attracts the most skilled marksmen and women in the game. Shooting has a history of being one of the oldest known games in the Olympics. Since 1896, shooting has been considered part of the modern era of the games.
Let’s look at some facts and details on why shooting competitions are some of the most exciting parts to look forward to at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The History of Olympic Shooting
Olympic shooting dates back to the very first games in Athens when shooting was one of the first of 9 events that was held. In those early days, they used to use actual live pigeons as targets before moving to clay based ones. Gradually, the types of shooting sports changed over the years to include various men’s and women’s events such as air pistol, air rifle, pistol, rifle three positions, skeet, and trap shooting. There are 15 total events, with 9 of them being for men and 6 of them women’s.
If you don’t know what trap shooting is as an event, it’s where the shooter moves to different stations to target shoot. There are 125 targets divided into stations of 25 and usually takes place over 2 to 3 days.
The International Shooting Sports Federation is the governing body that presides over this event. On their webpage, it details exactly how each shooting event is held with a qualification phase and a final phase.
The Top Athletes for Shooting at the Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympics for Tokyo 2020 will see a number of top competitors next year. All of the athletes first have to qualify as a shooter on USA’s national team to be able to secure a spot at the Olympics. It’s a highly competitive sport that requires a steady hand and nerves of steel to do well at. On the national team, the athletes will travel on a global scale to compete in the World Cup and World Cup Finals with many other competitions leading up to the Olympics.
By the time our athletes arrive in Tokyo, they will be pumped and ready to show the world their skills in a variety of events. During the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 20 athletes competed in the games. Overall for the entire world, 360 people will compete in shooting events. There were 390 at the games in Rio, but with new caps on athlete participation, they had to cut teams back a bit.
If you are curious about who is the most decorated athlete at the Olympics in shooting, it’s Carl Osborn with 11 total medals. Next is Willis A. Lee with 7 medals to his credit. For women, the legendary Kim Rhode has 5 Olympic medals to her name.
