What are the Shooting Events at Tokyo Olympics 2021?

Shooting has been part of the mega-quadrennial games since the first-ever in 1896. The sport has come a long way from 5 events during the inaugural games to 15 in Tokyo Olympics 2021.

Historically, shooting was a hunting sport, but now the guns and game have grown technologically. At every Olympics, shooting is the first event to hand out medals. Tokyo Olympics will become the first-ever games to have gender-neutral events in shooting.

The 15 events in shooting are divided into 3 major categories: pistol, rifle, and shotgun. Based on distance, the further division of events has been done. Every event has two rounds, the qualification, and the finals.

Pistol

The pistol category has two events broadly: 10m and 25m.

As the name suggests, shooters aim from a distance of 10m using their air pistol. Shooters have to shoot 60 shots in qualification and 24 in finals. Both men and women compete in this event.

However, 25m has two unique events for men and women. While 25m sports pistol event is for women shooters, 25m rapid fire pistol event is for men. These are the only events where men and women use different guns and the scoring system also differs.

Rifle

The Rifle events also have two events broadly: 10m and 50m rifle, 3 positions.

In the first event, shooters aim at a 10m distance with their air rifles. Athletes fire 60 shots in qualification and 24 in the finals.

The 50m small-bore event is more complicated than 10m. Shooters have to shoot in three different positions, kneeling, prone, and standing.

The rifles used in both the events are heavy, and shooters have to wear specialized outfits to stabilize their bodies. Men and women compete in both the rifle events.

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Shotgun

Shotgun is one of the oldest Olympic shooting events and the only event with a moving target. The two shotgun events are trap and skeet.

While historically a pigeon was used as a target, now clay is being used. The scoring system is the easiest, as it’s a ‘hit or miss’ system. Interestingly, shotgun has the longest and the shortest distance events in shooting.

Trap has the longest aiming distance whereas skeet has the shortest. In trap, the shooter has to aim in the air, unaware of the direction of the target. There are 3 areas and the clay target can be released from any of them.

Shooters have to aim in the air for skeet events as well; however, they are aware of the direction of the target. Making it challenging for shooters, the target comes from two different directions. In trap and skeet, both men and women compete.

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Mixed Team events at Tokyo Olympics 2021

The Tokyo Olympics 2021 will be the first-ever game to have mixed team events in the shooting. However,10m air pistol, 10m air rifle, and trap shooting will be the only events to conduct mixed team matches.

In mixed team events, one male and female shooter will pair up together to compete. This is an interesting addition to the shooting event as it gives men and women a chance to compete together.

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