Free rifle at the Olympics

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 the "rifle." The women's 50-metre version has also been called the "standard" and "sport" rifle. The "free" rifle is distinct from the military, air, and small-bore rifle events.

The current Olympic program 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.

In 1896, a 300-meter free rifle event was held 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. Four team events were held, with individual scores summed to give a team result in 1900 and 1920 and separate team shooting in 1908 and 1912. A 600-meter event for men was held in 1912, a 600-meter 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	Erling Kongshaug  Norway	Vilho Ylönen  Finland	Boris Andreyev Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne	Anatoli Bogdanov  Soviet Union	Otakar Hořínek  Czechoslovakia	John Sundberg  Sweden
1960 Rome	Viktor Shamburkin  Soviet Union	Marat Nyýazow  Soviet Union	Klaus Zähringer  United Team of Germany
1964 Tokyo	Lones Wigger  United States	Velichko Velichkov  Bulgaria	László Hammerl  Hungary
1968 Mexico City (mixed)	Bernd Klingner  West Germany	John Writer  United States	Vitaly Parkhimovich  Soviet Union
1972 Munich (mixed)	John Writer  United States	Lanny Bassham  United States	Werner Lippoldt  East Germany
1976 Montreal (mixed)	Lanny Bassham  United States	Margaret Murdock  United States	Werner Seibold  West Germany
1980 Moscow (mixed)	Viktor Vlasov  Soviet Union	Bernd Hartstein  East Germany	Sven Johansson  Sweden
1984 Los Angeles	Malcolm Cooper  Great Britain	Daniel Nipkow  Switzerland	Alister Allan  Great Britain
1988 Seoul	Malcolm Cooper  Great Britain	Alister Allan  Great Britain	Kirill Ivanov  Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona	Hrachya Petikyan  Unified Team	Robert Foth  United States	Ryohei Koba  Japan
1996 Atlanta	Jean-Pierre Amat  France	Sergey Belyayev  Kazakhstan	Wolfram Waibel  Austria
2000 Sydney	Rajmond Debevec  Slovenia	Juha Hirvi  Finland	Harald Stenvaag  Norway
2004 Athens	Jia Zhanbo  China	Michael Anti  United States	Christian Planer  Austria
2008 Beijing	Qiu Jian  China	Jury Sukhorukov  Ukraine	Rajmond Debevec  Slovenia
2012 London	Niccolò Campriani  Italy	Kim Jong-Hyun  South Korea	Matthew Emmons  United States
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Niccolò Campriani  Italy	Sergey Kamenskiy  Russia	Alexis Raynaud  France
2020 Tokyo	Zhang Changhong  China	Sergey Kamenskiy  ROC	Milenko Sebić  Serbia
2024 Paris	Liu Yukun  China	Serhiy Kulish  Ukraine	Swapnil Kusale  India

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Malcolm Cooper	Great Britain (GBR)	1984–1988	2	0	0	2
	Niccolò Campriani	Italy (ITA)	2012–2016	2	0	0	2
3	John Writer	United States (USA)	1968–1972	1	1	0	2
	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	China (CHN)	3	0	0	3
4	Great Britain (GBR)	2	1	1	4
5	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
	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	Wu Xiaoxuan  China	Ulrike Holmer  West Germany	Wanda Jewell  United States
1988 Seoul	Silvia Sperber  West Germany	Vesela Letcheva  Bulgaria	Valentina Cherkasova  Soviet Union
1992 Barcelona	Launi Meili  United States	Nonka Matova  Bulgaria	Małgorzata Książkiewicz  Poland
1996 Atlanta	Aleksandra Ivošev  FR Yugoslavia	Irina Gerasimenok  Russia	Renata Mauer  Poland
2000 Sydney	Renata Mauer  Poland	Tatiana Goldobina  Russia	Maria Feklistova  Russia
2004 Athens	Lioubov Galkina  Russia	Valentina Turisini  Italy	Wang Chengyi  China
2008 Beijing	Du Li  China	Kateřina Emmons  Czech Republic	Eglis Yaima Cruz  Cuba
2012 London	Jamie Lynn Gray  United States	Ivana Maksimović  Serbia	Adéla Sýkorová  Czech Republic
2016 Rio de Janeiro	Barbara Engleder  Germany	Zhang Binbin  China	Du Li  China
2020 Tokyo	Nina Christen  Switzerland	Yulia Zykova  ROC	Yulia Karimova  ROC
2024 Paris	Chiara Leone  Switzerland	Sagen Maddalena  United States	Zhang Qiongyue  China

Multiple medalists

Rank	Athlete	Nation	Olympics	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Renata Mauer	Poland (POL)	1996–2000	1	0	1	2
	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
	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
	Serbia (SRB)	0	1	0	1
12	Cuba (CUB)	0	0	1	1
	Soviet Union (URS)	0	0	1	1

50 m rifle prone

Men

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1908 London	Arthur Carnell  Great Britain	Harold Humby  Great Britain	George Barnes  Great Britain
1912 Stockholm	Frederick Hird  United States	William Milne  Great Britain	Henry Burt  Great Britain
1920 Antwerp	Not held
1924 Paris	Not held
1928 Amsterdam	Not held
1932 Los Angeles	Bertil Rönnmark  Sweden	Gustavo Huet  Mexico	Zoltán Soós-Ruszka Hradetzky  Hungary
1936 Berlin	Willy Røgeberg  Norway	Ralph Berzsenyi  Hungary	Władysław Karaś  Poland
1948 London	Arthur Cook  United States	Walter Tomsen  United States	Jonas Jonsson  Sweden
1952 Helsinki	Iosif Sîrbu  Romania	Boris Andreyev Soviet Union	Arthur Jackson  United States
1956 Melbourne	Gerald Ouellette  Canada	Vasily Borisov  Soviet Union	Gil Boa  Canada
1960 Rome	Peter Kohnke  United Team of Germany	James Enoch Hill  United States	Enrico Forcella  Venezuela
1964 Tokyo	László Hammerl  Hungary	Lones Wigger  United States	Tommy Pool  United States
1968 Mexico City (mixed)	Jan Kůrka  Czechoslovakia	László Hammerl  Hungary	Ian Ballinger  New Zealand
1972 Munich (mixed)	Ri Ho-jun  North Korea	Victor Auer  United States	Nicolae Rotaru  Romania
1976 Montreal (mixed)	Karlheinz Smieszek  West Germany	Ulrich Lind  West Germany	Gennadi Lushchikov  Soviet Union
1980 Moscow (mixed)	Károly Varga  Hungary	Hellfried Heilfort  East Germany	Petar Zapryanov  Bulgaria
1984 Los Angeles	Edward Etzel  United States	Michel Bury  France	Michael Sullivan  Great Britain
1988 Seoul	Miroslav Varga  Czechoslovakia	Cha Young-chul  South Korea	Attila Záhonyi  Hungary
1992 Barcelona	Lee Eun-chul  South Korea	Harald Stenvaag  Norway	Stevan Pletikosić  Independent Olympic Participants
1996 Atlanta	Christian Klees  Germany	Sergey Belyayev  Kazakhstan	Jozef Gönci  Slovakia
2000 Sydney	Jonas Edman  Sweden	Torben Grimmel  Denmark	Sergei Martynov  Belarus
2004 Athens	Matthew Emmons  United States	Christian Lusch  Germany	Sergei Martynov  Belarus
2008 Beijing	Artur Ayvazyan  Ukraine	Matthew Emmons  United States	Warren Potent  Australia
2012 London	Sergei Martynov  Belarus	Lionel Cox  Belgium	Rajmond Debevec  Slovenia
2016 Rio de Janeiro	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
	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
	Norway (NOR)	1	1	0	2
10	Belarus (BLR)	1	0	2	3
11	Canada (CAN)	1	0	1	2
	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	Emil Kellenberger  Switzerland	Anders Peter Nielsen  Denmark	Paul Van Asbroeck  Belgium Ole Østmo  Norway
1904 St. Louis	Not held
1908 London	Albert Helgerud  Norway	Harry Simon  United States	Ole Sæther  Norway
1912 Stockholm	Paul Colas  France	Lars Jørgen Madsen  Denmark	Niels Larsen  Denmark
1920 Antwerp	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	Emil Grünig  Switzerland	Pauli Janhonen  Finland	Willy Røgeberg  Norway
1952 Helsinki	Anatoli Bogdanov Soviet Union	Robert Bürchler  Switzerland	Lev Vainshtein Soviet Union
1956 Melbourne	Vasily Borisov  Soviet Union	Allan Erdman  Soviet Union	Vilho Ylönen  Finland
1960 Rome	Hubert Hammerer  Austria	Hans Rudolf Spillmann  Switzerland	Vasily Borisov  Soviet Union
1964 Tokyo	Gary Anderson  United States	Shota Kveliashvili  Soviet Union	Martin Gunnarsson  United States
1968 Mexico City (mixed)	Gary Anderson  United States	Valentin Kornev  Soviet Union	Kurt Müller  Switzerland
1972 Munich (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
	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
	Hungary (HUN)	0	0	1	1

300 m free rifle

Men

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

300 m rifle kneeling

Men

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

300 m rifle prone

Men

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

300 m rifle standing

Men

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

300 m rifle team

Men

Games	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1900 Paris	Emil Kellenberger, Franz Böckli, Konrad Stäheli, Louis Richardet, Alfred Grütter  Switzerland	Ole Østmo, Helmer 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	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	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	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	Bronze	Total
1	Ole Sæther	Norway (NOR)	1900, 1908–1912	1	2	0	3
	Albert Helgerud	Norway (NOR)	1908–1920	1	2	0	3
	Gudbrand Skatteboe	Norway (NOR)	1908–1920	1	2	0	3
4	Gustaf Adolf Jonsson	Sweden (SWE)	1908–1912	1	1	0	2
	Einar Liberg	Norway (NOR)	1908–1912	1	1	0	2
	Olaf Sæther	Norway (NOR)	1908–1912	1	1	0	2
7	Østen Østensen	Norway (NOR)	1912–1920	0	2	0	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	Paul Colas  France	Carl Osburn  United States	John Jackson  United States

600 m rifle prone

Men

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

1000 yd rifle

Men

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