Free rifle at the Olympics

Free rifle
at the Olympic Games
Free rifle; at the Olympic Games
	Rifle shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics
Overview
Sport	Shooting
Gender	Men and women
Years held	Men: At least one event every year shooting has been held (i.e., excl. 1904 and 1928); Women: 1984–2020
Reigning champion
Men	Zhang Changhong (CHN)
Women	Nina Christen (SUI)

The free rifle is a group of events held at the Olympics, beginning in 1896 and continuing to the current programme. Current nomenclature drops the "free" and refers to the event type as simply the "rifle." The women's 50 metre version has also been referred to as the "standard" and "sport" rifle. The "free" rifle is distinct from the military rifle, air rifle, and small-bore rifle.

The current Olympic programme includes two free rifle events: the ISSF 50 meter rifle three positions for both men (since 1952) and women (since 1984; women were nominally allowed to compete with the men from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years). Two other events were held for numerous Games: the 300 m rifle three positions for men from 1900 to 1920 and from 1948 to 1972 and the ISSF 50 meter rifle prone for men from 1912 to 2016 (excluding 1920 and 1924). The 300 m rifle prone is a shooting discipline held at the world championships but never consistently at the Olympics.

There was a 300 metre free rifle event in 1896 without position requirements. In 1900, medals were awarded for each of the three positions in the 300 metre free rifle competition, using the scores from the full individual event. There were four team events held, with individual scores summed to give a team result in 1900 and 1920 and separate team shooting in 1908 and 1912. A 600-metre event for men was held in 1912, a 600-metre prone event for men in 1924, and a 1000-yard event for men in 1908.

50 m rifle three positions[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1952 Helsinki details	Erling Kongshaug Norway	Vilho Ylönen Finland	Boris Andreyev Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne details	Anatoli Bogdanov Soviet Union	Otakar Hořínek Czechoslovakia	John Sundberg Sweden
1960 Rome details	Viktor Shamburkin Soviet Union	Marat Nyýazow Soviet Union	Klaus Zähringer United Team of Germany
1964 Tokyo details	Lones Wigger United States	Velichko Velichkov Bulgaria	László Hammerl Hungary
1968 Mexico City details (mixed)	Bernd Klingner West Germany	John Writer United States	Vitaly Parkhimovich Soviet Union
1972 Munich details (mixed)	John Writer United States	Lanny Bassham United States	Werner Lippoldt East Germany
1976 Montreal details (mixed)	Lanny Bassham United States	Margaret Murdock^[1] United States	Werner Seibold West Germany
1980 Moscow details (mixed)	Viktor Vlasov Soviet Union	Bernd Hartstein East Germany	Sven Johansson Sweden
1984 Los Angeles details	Malcolm Cooper Great Britain	Daniel Nipkow Switzerland	Alister Allan Great Britain
1988 Seoul details	Malcolm Cooper Great Britain	Alister Allan Great Britain	Kirill Ivanov Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona details	Hrachya Petikyan Unified Team	Robert Foth United States	Ryohei Koba Japan
1996 Atlanta details	Jean-Pierre Amat France	Sergey Belyayev Kazakhstan	Wolfram Waibel Austria
2000 Sydney details	Rajmond Debevec Slovenia	Juha Hirvi Finland	Harald Stenvaag Norway
2004 Athens details	Jia Zhanbo China	Michael Anti United States	Christian Planer Austria
2008 Beijing details	Qiu Jian China	Jury Sukhorukov Ukraine	Rajmond Debevec Slovenia
2012 London details	Niccolò Campriani Italy	Kim Jong-Hyun South Korea	Matthew Emmons United States
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Niccolò Campriani Italy	Sergey Kamenskiy Russia	Alexis Raynaud France
2020 Tokyo details	Zhang Changhong China	Sergey Kamenskiy ROC	Milenko Sebić Serbia

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Malcolm Cooper	Great Britain (GBR)	1984–1988	2	0	0	2
1	Niccolò Campriani	Italy (ITA)	2012–2016	2	0	0	2
3	John Writer	United States (USA)	1968–1972	1	1	0	2
3	Lanny Bassham	United States (USA)	1972–1976	1	1	0	2
5	Rajmond Debevec	Slovenia (SLO)	2000, 2008	1	0	1	2
6	Alister Allan	Great Britain (GBR)	1984–1988	0	1	1	2

Medalists by nation[]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	3	5	1	9
2	Soviet Union (URS)	3	1	3	8
3	Great Britain (GBR)	2	1	1	4
4	China (CHN)	2	0	0	2
4	Italy (ITA)	2	0	0	2
6	France (FRA)	1	0	1	2
	West Germany (FRG)	1	0	1	2
	Norway (NOR)	1	0	1	2
	Slovenia (SLO)	1	0	1	2
10	Unified Team (EUN)	1	0	0	1
11	Finland (FIN)	0	2	0	2
12	East Germany (GDR)	0	1	1	2
13	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	1	0	1
	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	0	1	0	1
	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	1	0	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	1	0	1
	South Korea (KOR)	0	1	0	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	0	1
	Ukraine (UKR)	0	1	0	1
20	Austria (AUT)	0	0	2	2
20	Sweden (SWE)	0	0	2	2
22	United Team of Germany (EUA)	0	0	1	1
	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1
	Japan (JPN)	0	0	1	1

Women[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1984 Los Angeles details	Wu Xiaoxuan China	Ulrike Holmer West Germany	Wanda Jewell United States
1988 Seoul details	Silvia Sperber West Germany	Vesela Letcheva Bulgaria	Valentina Cherkasova Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona details	Launi Meili United States	Nonka Matova Bulgaria	Malgorzata Ksiazkiewicz Poland
1996 Atlanta details	Aleksandra Ivošev FR Yugoslavia	Irina Gerasimenok Russia	Renata Mauer Poland
2000 Sydney details	Renata Mauer Poland	Tatiana Goldobina Russia	Maria Feklistova Russia
2004 Athens details	Lioubov Galkina Russia	Valentina Turisini Italy	Wang Chengyi China
2008 Beijing details	Du Li China	Kateřina Emmons Czech Republic	Eglis Yaima Cruz Cuba
2012 London details	Jamie Lynn Gray United States	Ivana Maksimović Serbia	Adéla Sýkorová Czech Republic
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Barbara Engleder Germany	Zhang Binbin China	Du Li China
2020 Tokyo details	Nina Christen Switzerland	Yulia Zykova ROC	Yulia Karimova ROC

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Renata Mauer	Poland (POL)	1996–2000	1	0	1	2
1	Du Li	China (CHN)	2008, 2016	1	0	1	2

Medalists by nation[]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China (CHN)	2	1	2	5
2	United States (USA)	2	0	1	3
3	Russia (RUS)	1	2	1	4
4	West Germany (FRG)	1	1	0	2
5	Poland (POL)	1	0	2	3
6	Germany (GER)	1	0	0	1
6	Yugoslavia (YUG)	1	0	0	1
8	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	2	0	2
9	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	1	1	2
10	Italy (ITA)	0	1	0	1
10	Serbia (SRB)	0	1	0	1
12	Cuba (CUB)	0	0	1	1
12	Soviet Union (URS)	0	0	1	1

50 m rifle prone[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London details	Arthur Carnell Great Britain	Harold Humby Great Britain	George Barnes Great Britain
1912 Stockholm details	Frederick Hird United States	William Milne Great Britain	Harold Burt Great Britain
1920 Antwerp	Not held
1924 Paris	Not held
1928 Amsterdam	Not held
1932 Los Angeles details	Bertil Rönnmark Sweden	Gustavo Huet Mexico	Zoltán Soós-Ruszka Hradetzky Hungary
1936 Berlin details	Willy Røgeberg Norway	Ralph Berzsenyi Hungary	Władysław Karaś Poland
1948 London details	Arthur Cook United States	Walter Tomsen United States	Jonas Jonsson Sweden
1952 Helsinki details	Iosif Sîrbu Romania	Boris Andreyev Soviet Union	Arthur Jackson United States
1956 Melbourne details	Gerald Ouellette Canada	Vasily Borisov Soviet Union	Gil Boa Canada
1960 Rome details	Peter Kohnke United Team of Germany	James Enoch Hill United States	Enrico Forcella Venezuela
1964 Tokyo details	László Hammerl Hungary	Lones Wigger United States	Tommy Pool United States
1968 Mexico City details (mixed)	Jan Kůrka Czechoslovakia	László Hammerl Hungary	Ian Ballinger New Zealand
1972 Munich details (mixed)	Ri Ho-jun North Korea	Victor Auer United States	Nicolae Rotaru Romania
1976 Montreal details (mixed)	Karlheinz Smieszek West Germany	Ulrich Lind West Germany	Gennadi Lushchikov Soviet Union
1980 Moscow details (mixed)	Károly Varga Hungary	Hellfried Heilfort East Germany	Petar Zapryanov Bulgaria
1984 Los Angeles details	Edward Etzel United States	Michel Bury France	Michael Sullivan Great Britain
1988 Seoul details	Miroslav Varga Czechoslovakia	Cha Young-chul South Korea	Attila Záhonyi Hungary
1992 Barcelona details	Lee Eun-chul South Korea	Harald Stenvaag Norway	Stevan Pletikosić Independent Olympic Participants
1996 Atlanta details	Christian Klees Germany	Sergey Belyayev Kazakhstan	Jozef Gönci Slovakia
2000 Sydney details	Jonas Edman Sweden	Torben Grimmel Denmark	Sergei Martynov Belarus
2004 Athens details	Matthew Emmons United States	Christian Lusch Germany	Sergei Martynov Belarus
2008 Beijing details	Artur Ayvazyan Ukraine	Matthew Emmons United States	Warren Potent Australia
2012 London details	Sergei Martynov Belarus	Lionel Cox Belgium	Rajmond Debevec Slovenia
2016 Rio de Janeiro details	Henri Junghänel Germany	Kim Jong-hyun South Korea	Kirill Grigoryan Russia

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	László Hammerl	Hungary (HUN)	1964–1968	1	1	0	2
1	Matthew Emmons	United States (USA)	2004–2008	1	1	0	2
3	Sergei Martynov	Belarus (BLR)	2000–2004, 2012	1	0	2	3

Medalists by nation[]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	4	5	2	11
2	Hungary (HUN)	2	2	2	6
3	Germany (GER)	2	1	0	3
4	Sweden (SWE)	2	0	1	3
5	Czechoslovakia (TCH)	2	0	0	2
6	Great Britain (GBR)	1	2	3	6
7	South Korea (KOR)	1	2	0	3
8	West Germany (FRG)	1	1	0	2
8	Norway (NOR)	1	1	0	2
10	Belarus (BLR)	1	0	2	3
11	Canada (CAN)	1	0	1	2
11	Romania (ROU)	1	0	1	2
13	United Team of Germany (EUA)	1	0	0	1
	North Korea (PRK)	1	0	0	1
	Ukraine (UKR)	1	0	0	1
16	Soviet Union (URS)	0	2	1	3
17	Belgium (BEL)	0	1	0	1
	Denmark (DEN)	0	1	0	1
	France (FRA)	0	1	0	1
	East Germany (GDR)	0	1	0	1
	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	1	0	1
	Mexico (MEX)	0	1	0	1
23	Australia (AUS)	0	0	1	1
	Bulgaria (BUL)	0	0	1	1
	Independent Olympic Participants (IOP)	0	0	1	1
	New Zealand (NZL)	0	0	1	1
	Poland (POL)	0	0	1	1
	Russia (RUS)	0	0	1	1
	Slovakia (SVK)	0	0	1	1
	Slovenia (SLO)	0	0	1	1
	Venezuela (VEN)	0	0	1	1

300 m rifle three positions[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris details	Emil Kellenberger Switzerland	Anders Peter Nielsen Denmark	Paul Van Asbroeck Belgium Ole Østmo Norway
1904 St. Louis	Not held
1908 London details	Albert Helgerud Norway	Harry Simon United States	Ole Sæther Norway
1912 Stockholm details	Paul Colas France	Lars Jørgen Madsen Denmark	Niels Larsen Denmark
1920 Antwerp details	Morris Fisher United States	Niels Larsen Denmark	Østen Østensen Norway
1924 Paris	Not held
1928 Amsterdam	Not held
1932 Los Angeles	Not held
1936 Berlin	Not held
1948 London details	Emil Grünig Switzerland	Pauli Janhonen Finland	Willy Røgeberg Norway
1952 Helsinki details	Anatoli Bogdanov Soviet Union	Robert Bürchler Switzerland	Lev Vainshtein Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne details	Vasily Borisov Soviet Union	Allan Erdman Soviet Union	Vilho Ylönen Finland
1960 Rome details	Hubert Hammerer Austria	Hans Rudolf Spillmann Switzerland	Vasily Borisov Soviet Union
1964 Tokyo details	Gary Anderson United States	Shota Kveliashvili Soviet Union	Martin Gunnarsson United States
1968 Mexico City details (mixed)	Gary Anderson United States	Valentin Kornev Soviet Union	Kurt Müller Switzerland
1972 Munich details (mixed)	Lones Wigger United States	Boris Melnik Soviet Union	Lajos Papp Hungary

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Gary Anderson	United States (USA)	1964–1968	2	0	0	2
2	Vasily Borisov	Soviet Union (URS)	1956–1960	1	0	1	2
3	Niels Larsen	Denmark (DEN)	1912–1920	0	1	1	2

Medalists by nation[]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	United States (USA)	4	1	1	6
2	Soviet Union (URS)	2	4	2	8
3	Switzerland (SUI)	2	2	1	5
4	Norway (NOR)	1	0	4	5
5	Austria (AUT)	1	0	0	1
5	France (FRA)	1	0	0	1
7	Denmark (DEN)	0	3	1	4
8	Finland (FIN)	0	1	1	2
9	Belgium (BEL)	0	0	1	1
9	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1

300 m free rifle[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1896 Athens details	Georgios Orphanidis Greece	Ioannis Frangoudis Greece	Viggo Jensen Denmark

300 m rifle kneeling[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris details	Konrad Stäheli Switzerland	Emil Kellenberger Switzerland Anders Peter Nielsen Denmark	Not awarded

300 m rifle prone[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris details	Achille Paroche France	Anders Peter Nielsen Denmark	Ole Østmo Norway

300 m rifle standing[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris details	Lars Jørgen Madsen Denmark	Ole Østmo Norway	Charles Paumier Belgium

300 m rifle team[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris details	Emil Kellenberger, Franz Böckli, Konrad Stäheli, Louis Richardet, Alfred Grütter Switzerland	Ole Østmo, Hellmer Hermandsen, Tom Seeberg, Ole Sæther, Olaf Frydenlund Norway	Achille Paroche, Auguste Cavadini, Léon Moreaux, Maurice Lecoq, René Thomas France
1904 St. Louis	Not held
1908 London details	Julius Braathe, Albert Helgerud, Einar Liberg, Olaf Sæther, Ole Sæther, Gudbrand Skatteboe Norway	Per-Olof Arvidsson, Janne Gustafsson, Axel Jansson, Gustaf Adolf Jonsson, Claës Rundberg, Gustav-Adolf Sjöberg Sweden	Eugène Balme, Albert Courquin, Raoul de Boigne, Léon Johnson, Maurice Lecoq, André Parmentier France
1912 Stockholm details	Carl Björkman, Erik Blomqvist, Mauritz Eriksson, Hugo Johansson, Gustaf Adolf Jonsson, Bernhard Larsson Sweden	Albert Helgerud, Einar Liberg, Østen Østensen, Olaf Sæther, Ole Sæther, Gudbrand Skatteboe Norway	Niels Andersen, Jens Hajslund, Laurits Larsen, Niels Larsen, Lars Jørgen Madsen, Ole Olsen Denmark
1920 Antwerp details	Dennis Fenton, Morris Fisher, Willis A. Lee, Carl Osburn, Lloyd Spooner United States	Albert Helgerud, Otto Olsen, Østen Østensen, Gudbrand Skatteboe, Olaf Sletten Norway	Gustave Amoudruz, Ulrich Fahrner, Fritz Kuchen, Werner Schneeberger, Bernard Siegenthaler Switzerland

Multiple medalists[]

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Total
1	Ole Sæther	Norway (NOR)	1900, 1908–1912	1	2	3
	Albert Helgerud	Norway (NOR)	1908–1920	1	2	3
	Gudbrand Skatteboe	Norway (NOR)	1908–1920	1	2	3
4	Gustaf Adolf Jonsson	Sweden (SWE)	1908–1912	1	1	2
	Einar Liberg	Norway (NOR)	1908–1912	1	1	2
	Olaf Sæther	Norway (NOR)	1908–1912	1	1	2
7	Østen Østensen	Norway (NOR)	1912–1920	0	2	2

Medalists by nation[]

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway (NOR)	1	3	0	3
2	Sweden (SWE)	1	1	0	2
3	Switzerland (SUI)	1	0	1	2
4	United States (USA)	1	0	0	1
5	France (FRA)	0	0	2	2
6	Denmark (DEN)	0	0	1	1

600 m rifle[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1912 Stockholm details	Paul Colas France	Carl Osburn United States	John Jackson United States

600 m rifle prone[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1920 Antwerp details	Morris Fisher United States	Carl Osburn United States	Niels Larsen Denmark

1000 yd rifle[]

Men[]

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London details	Joshua Millner Great Britain	Kellogg Casey United States	Maurice Blood Great Britain

References[]

^ Murdock was the first woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting. From 1968 to 1980, the events were open to men and women competing together, before women's events were added in 1984.

[Murdock-1] Murdock was the first woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting. From 1968 to 1980, the events were open to men and women competing together, before women's events were added in 1984.

[1]

v t Olympic champions in men's 300 metre rifle three positions
Summary
1900: Emil Kellenberger (SUI) 1908: Albert Helgerud (NOR) 1912: Paul Colas (FRA) 1920: Morris Fisher (USA) 1948: Emil Grünig (SUI) 1952: Anatoli Bogdanov (URS) 1956: Vasily Borisov (URS) 1960: Hubert Hammerer (AUT) 1964: Gary Anderson (USA) 1968: Gary Anderson (USA) 1972: Lones Wigger (USA)
Any position	1896: Georgios Orphanidis (GRE)
Kneeling	1900: Konrad Stäheli (SUI)
Prone	1900: Achille Paroche (FRA)
Standing	1900: Lars Jørgen Madsen (DEN)
Team	1900: Emil Kellenberger, Franz Böckli, Konrad Stäheli, Louis Richardet, Alfred Grütter (SUI) 1908: Julius Braathe, Albert Helgerud, Einar Liberg, Olaf Sæther, Ole Sæther, Gudbrand Skatteboe (NOR) 1912: Carl Björkman, Erik Blomqvist, Mauritz Eriksson, Hugo Johansson, Gustaf Adolf Jonsson, Bernhard Larsson (SWE) 1920: Dennis Fenton, Morris Fisher, Willis A. Lee, Carl Osburn, Lloyd Spooner (USA)

v t Shooting at the Summer Olympics
	Editions	1896 1900 1904 1906 (Intercalated) 1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
	Current events	50 m rifle 3 positions men women 10 m air rifle men women mixed team 25 m pistol women 25 m rapid fire pistol men 10 m air pistol men women mixed team trap men women mixed team skeet men women
	Former events	free rifle 300 m 3 pos 300 m prone 300 m kneeling 300 m standing 300 m team 3 pos 600 m 1000 yd military rifle 200 m 300 m 3 pos 300 m prone 300 m standing 300 m team prone 300 m team standing 600 m prone 600 m team prone 300 m & 600 m team prone small-bore rifle disappearing target moving target stationary target 25 m 25 m team 50 m team running deer single shot single shot team double shot double shot team single & double shot running target 10 m 50 m free pistol 50 m 50 m team rapid fire pistol team military pistol 25 m trap double team
List of medalists List of Olympic records List of Olympic venues

v t Olympic champions in women's 50 metre rifle three positions
Summary
1984: Wu Xiaoxuan (CHN) 1988: Silvia Sperber (FRG) 1992: Launi Meili (USA) 1996: Aleksandra Ivošev (YUG) 2000: Renata Mauer (POL) 2004: Lyubov Galkina (RUS) 2008: Du Li (CHN) 2012: Jamie Lynn Gray (USA) 2016: Barbara Engleder (GER) 2020: Nina Christen (SUI)