Shooting at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Dates 24 July – 2 August 2021
Medal Events 15

After three Olympic Games without any modifications to the shooting program, Tokyo saw significant changes. To make the shooting program gender equal, three men’s events were dropped. Not only was the men’s double trap discontinued, which had taken place between 1996 and 2016, but two of the most traditional men’s events in history were also removed. Both the 50 m small-bore rifle prone, held in every edition since 1932, and the 50 m free pistol, held in every edition since 1936, did not return in Tokyo.

Six events each for men and women were held, two each for pistols, rifles, and shotguns. In addition, three team events were added to the program. All three team events were, in fact, pairs events, as each team consisted of one woman and one man only. Nevertheless, team shooting events returned to the Olympic program after 97 years, having been discontinued after the 1924 Olympics and, of course, they were the first ever Olympic mixed gender shooting events. For further gender equality, the formats of the events were changed, with all events using the same format and the same number of shots. The only remaining small difference was the caliber between the sporting pistol used by women and the rapid-fire pistol used by men.

The qualification phase started with the 2018 World Shooting Championships (held in Changwon, Korea) on 2 September 2018 and then continued through various continental championships, the 2019 World Cup, and some multi-sport games. Originally, the qualification process ended in March 2020 but, due to the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021, some additional spots were awarded up to June 2021. The places were not won personally for athletes but for nations, so that the shooters who secured the place did not always take part in Tokyo. Unlike former Olympics, the host nation Japan was given a quota spot for every individual event. In total 360 shooters qualified, of whom 355 (178 men and 177 women) actually competed. These shooters represented 101 NOCs and, for the first time ever, more women from different NOCs (73) than men (66) competed.

With her ninth participation at the Olympics, having not missed any Games since her first participation in 1988, Nino Salukvadze equalled the record held by Afanasijs Kuzmins for shooters. Salukvadze competed in the 10 m air pistol event along with Mariya Grozdeva and Otryadyn Gündegmaa, who both participated in their seventh Games. Salukvadze’s ninth Olympic appearance was also an Olympic best for females, in any sport.

A total of 19 different nations won shooting medals at Tokyo. For the first time since 2004, however, the host nation did not win a medal in shooting events. With Zhang Changhong winning gold in the men’s 50 m small-bore rifle three positions, China topped the medal standings again after also being on top from 2000-08, while Iran, San Marino, and Serbia won their first ever shooting medals (Serbian shooters had already won medals before but for Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, respectively). This was also San Marino’s first ever Olympic medal.

The most decorated shooter in Tokyo was Vitalina Batsarashkina, who won two golds and one silver. The only other shooter winning two gold medals was Yang Qian, with no male shooter winning more than one gold medal. With a total of three shooting medals, Batsarashkina became the first shooter to win three medals at the same Games since 1924 and, of course, was the first female shooter to do so.

An age record for female shooters was set at these Games by Anna Dulce of Moldova, born on 22 October 2005, as she was only aged 15 years 276 days when participating in the women’s 10 m air rifle event. She surpassed Mladenka Maleniča, who was 16-115 in her first event in 1988. Another age record was set in Tokyo by Sheng Lihao, born on 4 December 2004, who became the youngest ever Olympic shooting medallist, aged 16 years 233 days when winning silver in the men’s 10 m air rifle event.

Events

Event Status Date Participants NOCs
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Men Olympic 24 July 2021 36 29
Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men Olympic 1 – 2 August 2021 27 19
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Men Olympic 25 July 2021 47 32
Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions, 50 metres, Men Olympic 2 August 2021 39 27
Trap, Men Olympic 28 – 29 July 2021 29 23
Skeet, Men Olympic 25 – 26 July 2021 30 22
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Women Olympic 25 July 2021 53 37
Sporting Pistol, 25 metres, Women Olympic 29 – 30 July 2021 44 30
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Women Olympic 24 July 2021 50 39
Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions, 50 metres, Women Olympic 31 July 2021 37 29
Trap, Women Olympic 28 – 29 July 2021 26 19
Skeet, Women Olympic 25 – 26 July 2021 28 22
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Team, Mixed Olympic 27 July 2021 40 15
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Team, Mixed Olympic 27 July 2021 58 20
Trap, Team, Mixed Olympic 31 July 2021 32 12
355 (178/177) 101 (66/73)

Medals

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Men Javad ForoughiIRI Damir MikecSRB Pang WeiCHN
Rapid-Fire Pistol, 25 metres, Men Jean QuiquampoixFRA Leuris PupoCUB Li YuehongCHN
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Men Will ShanerUSA Sheng LihaoCHN Yang HaoranCHN
Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions, 50 metres, Men Zhang ChanghongCHN Sergey KamenskyROC Milenko SebićSRB
Trap, Men Jiří LiptákCZE David KosteleckýCZE Matthew Coward-HolleyGBR
Skeet, Men Vincent HancockUSA Jesper HansenDEN Abdullah Al-RashidiKUW
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Women Vitalina BatsarashkinaROC Antoaneta KostadinovaBUL Jiang RanxinCHN
Sporting Pistol, 25 metres, Women Vitalina BatsarashkinaROC Kim Min-JeongKOR Xiao JiaruixuanCHN
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Women Yang QianCHN Anastasiya GalashinaROC Nina ChristenSUI
Small-Bore Rifle, Three Positions, 50 metres, Women Nina ChristenSUI Yuliya ZykovaROC Yuliya KarimovaROC
Trap, Women Zuzana Rehák ŠtefečekováSVK Kayle BrowningUSA Alessandra PerilliSMR
Skeet, Women Amber EnglishUSA Diana BacosiITA Wei MengCHN
Air Pistol, 10 metres, Team, Mixed People's Republic of China 1CHN ROC 1ROC UkraineUKR
Air Rifle, 10 metres, Team, Mixed People's Republic of China 1CHN United States 1USA ROC 2ROC
Trap, Team, Mixed SpainESP San MarinoSMR United States 2USA

Medal table

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
People's Republic of China CHN 4 1 6 11
United States USA 3 2 1 6
ROC ROC 2 4 2 8
Czechia CZE 1 1 0 2
Switzerland SUI 1 0 1 2
France FRA 1 0 0 1
Islamic Republic of Iran IRI 1 0 0 1
Slovakia SVK 1 0 0 1
Spain ESP 1 0 0 1
San Marino SMR 0 1 1 2
Serbia SRB 0 1 1 2
Bulgaria BUL 0 1 0 1
Cuba CUB 0 1 0 1
Denmark DEN 0 1 0 1
Italy ITA 0 1 0 1
Republic of Korea KOR 0 1 0 1
Great Britain GBR 0 0 1 1
Kuwait KUW 0 0 1 1
Ukraine UKR 0 0 1 1