The men's trap event at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place on August 9 and 10 at the Beijing Shooting Range Clay Target Field. There were 35 competitors from 25 nations, with each nation having up to two shooters. The Czech Republic won its second shooting gold in two days through David Kostelecký, shooting a perfect 25 in the final round and establishing an Olympic record of 146 hits total after a 2005 rule change. It was the Czech Republic's first medal in the men's trap (though two men from what is now the Czech Republic won medals competing for Czechoslovakia). Giovanni Pellielo of Italy repeated as the silver medalist; in addition to his 2000 bronze, this made Pellielo the first (and, as of the 2016 Games, still the only) man to earn at least three medals in the event; he would go on to win a fourth (another silver) in 2016. Defending Olympic champion Aleksei Alipov of Russia took bronze this year, making him the fifth man to earn two medals in the trap.

Background

This was the 20th appearance of the men's ISSF Olympic trap event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1924 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1952 to 2016; it was open to women from 1968 to 1992.

Four of the 6 finalists from the 2004 Games returned: gold medalist Alexey Alipov of Russia, silver medalist (and 2000 bronze medalist) Giovanni Pellielo of Italy, fourth-place finisher Ahmed Al-Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates, and fifth-place finisher (and 1996 bronze medalist) Lance Bade of the United States. Two-time (1996 and 2000) gold medalist Michael Diamond of Australia, who had finished 8th in 2004 and missed the cut for the finals, also returned; so did 2000 finalist David Kostelecký, who had not competed in 2004. Diamond was the reigning World Champion again, having won in 2007 (as well as 1999 and 2001). He was favoured once again. Another World Champion (Manavjit Singh Sandhu of India, 2006) was competing in 2008.

For the first time since 1920, no nations made their debut in the event. France made its 18th appearance, matching the absent Great Britain for most among nations.

Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to two shooters if the NOC earned enough quota sports or had enough crossover-qualified shooters. To compete, a shooter needed a quota spot and to achieve a Minimum Qualification Score (MQS). Once a shooter was using a quota spot in any shooting event, they could enter any other shooting event for which they had achieved the MQS as well (a crossover qualification). There were 32 quota spots available for the trap event: 1 for the host nation, 1 at the 2005 World Championship, 5 at the 2002 World Cup events, 3 at the 2006 World Championship, 4 at the 2007 World Cup events, 1 at the 2007 African Championships, 4 at the 2007 European Championships, 2 at the 2007 Pan American Games, 1 at the 2007 World Championship, 3 at the 2007 Asian Championships, 1 at the 2007 Oceania Championships, and 2 invitational places. There were three places used in exchanges, reallocation, and crossover.

Competition format

The competition used the two-round 125+25 format introduced in 1996. A small but significant change had been introduced by a 2005 rules change, however; only one shot per target was allowed in the final round (rather than the two still used in qualifying and previously used in the final).

The event consisted of two rounds: a qualifier and a final. In the qualifier, each shooter fired 5 sets of 25 targets in trap shooting, with 10 targets being thrown to the left, 10 to the right, and 5 straight-away in each set. The shooters could take two shots at each target.

The top 6 shooters in the qualifying round moved on to the final round. There, they fired one additional round of 25 targets, where only one shot could be taken at each target. The total score from all 150 targets was used to determine final ranking. Ties were broken using a shoot-off; additional shots are fired one at a time until there is no longer a tie.

Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows. There was no final-round Olympic record due to the rule change limiting competitors to one shot per target in the final round.

David Kostelecký set the initial Olympic record for the new final total, hitting 146 targets.

Schedule

All times are China Standard Time (UTC+8)

Date Time Round Saturday, 9 August 2008 9:00 Qualifying: Course 1 Sunday, 10 August 2008 9:0015:00 Qualifying: Course 2Final

Results

Qualifying round

The qualifying round was held between 09:00 and 13:30 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Saturday (first three rounds) and between 09:00 and 12:00 on Sunday (last two rounds).

Rank Shooter Nation 1 2 3Day 1 4 5Total Shoot-off Notes1 Aleksei Alipov 23 24 25 72 25 24 121 rowspan=4 2 David Kostelecký 24 24 25 73 24 24 121 3 Erminio Frasca 23 24 25 72 24 24 120 4 Giovanni Pellielo 25 25 23 73 24 23 120 5 Michael Diamond 25 23 24 72 24 23 119.5 3 6 Josip Glasnović 25 23 24 72 25 22 119.5 3 7 Karsten Bindrich 24 23 24 71 25 23 119 28 Mansher Singh 25 24 20 69 24 24 117rowspan=28 9 Erik Varga 23 25 24 72 23 22 11710 Jesús Serrano 24 21 23 68 24 24 11611 Pavel Gurkin 24 24 21 69 23 24 11612 Manavjit Singh Sandhu 23 23 24 70 22 24 11613 Glenn Kable 24 21 22 67 23 25 11514 Mário Filipovič 22 24 24 70 22 23 11515 Lee Young-sik 23 24 23 70 22 23 11516 Li Yang 24 21 24 69 24 22 11517 Yves Tronc 24 23 22 69 24 22 11518 Naser Meqlad 23 24 24 71 22 22 11519 Juan Carlos Dasque 21 24 25 70 24 21 11520 Graeme Ede 21 24 20 65 25 24 11421 Li Yajun 18 23 24 65 24 24 11322 Bret Erickson 20 23 22 65 24 24 11323 Dominic Grazioli 23 24 22 69 20 24 11324 Stefan Rüttgeroth 24 21 21 66 24 23 11325 Stéphane Clamens 25 20 20 65 23 24 11226 Giuseppe Di Salvatore 24 23 19 66 23 23 11227 Manuel Silva 22 23 23 68 22 21 11128 Lee Wung Yew 23 24 22 69 19 22 11029 Derek Burnett 24 22 23 69 22 19 11030 Ahmed Al-Maktoum 24 23 22 69 22 19 11031 Craig Henwood 22 21 23 66 23 20 10932 Adham Medhat 20 22 22 64 23 21 10833 Alberto Fernández 24 23 16 63 22 21 10634 Cesar David Menacho Flores 24 22 21 67 18 21 10635 Eric Ang 19 24 22 65 21 20 106

Final

The final was held at 15:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on Sunday.

Rank Shooter NationQualFinalTotal 5th placeshoot-off Bronzeshoot-off Notes David Kostelecký 121 25 146 colspan=2 rowspan=2 Giovanni Pellielo 120 23 143 Aleksei Alipov 21 142 rowspan=2 34 Michael Diamond 23 142 25 Josip Glasnović 119 21 140 2 rowspan=2 6 Erminio Frasca 20 140 1

References