The ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol was a competition at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Józef Zapędzki of Poland set an Olympic record of 595 to defend his gold medal. He was the first shooter to defend the gold medal, in this event, since Károly Takács of Hungary defended his gold at the 1948 and 1952 games. Ladislav Falta of Czechoslovakia took silver. Viktor Torshin's bronze put the Soviet Union on the rapid fire pistol podium for the fourth time in five Games. There were 62 competitors from 39 nations. The nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games.
As with all shooting events from 1968 to 1980, this event was open to both men and women.
Background
This was the 14th appearance of what had been standardised in 1948 as the men's ISSF 25 meter rapid fire pistol event, the only event on the 2020 programme that traces back to 1896. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics except 1904 and 1928 (when no shooting events were held) and 1908; it was open to women from 1968 to 1980. The first five events were quite different, with some level of consistency finally beginning with the 1932 event—which, though it had differences from the 1924 competition, was roughly similar. The 1936 competition followed the 1932 one quite closely. The post-World War II event substantially altered the competition once again.
Four of the top 10 shooters from 1968 returned: gold medalist Józef Zapędzki of Poland, fourth-place finisher Christian Düring of East Germany, eighth-place finisher Giovanni Liverzani of Italy, and tenth-place finisher Ladislav Falta of Czechoslovakia. Liverzani was the reigning (1970) world champion, with Falta the runner-up. 1952 silver medalist Szilárd Kun of Hungary competed once again, as did 1960 gold medalist William McMillan of the United States.
Luxembourg, New Zealand, San Marino, and the Virgin Islands each made their debut in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance in the event, most of any nation.
Competition format
The competition format followed the 1948 format, now very close to the modern rapid fire pistol competition after significant variation before World War II. Each shooter fired 60 shots. These were done in two courses of 30; each course consisted of two stages of 15; each stage consisted of three series of 5. In each stage, the time limit for each series was 8 seconds for the first, 6 seconds for the second, and 4 seconds for the third.
A holdover from the previous Games was that full-body silhouettes, rather than round targets, continued to be used; however, scoring rings had been added so that now each shot was scored up to 10 rather than being strictly hit or miss.
One change from 1948 to 1956 was that hits were no longer the primary measurement of success. As in 1960–1968, ranking was done by score, regardless of hits.Official Report, vol. 3, p. 227.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Józef Zapędzki beat his own Olympic record with 595 points. Ladislav Falta (at 594 points) was also above the old record, while Viktor Torshin matched it.
Schedule
Date Time Round Thursday, 31 August 1972 9:00 Course 1 Friday, 1 September 1972 9:00 Course 2
Results
Rank Shooter Nation 8 seconds 6 seconds 4 seconds Total Notes Józef Zapędzki 200 199 196 595 Ladislav Falta 200 197 197 594 Viktor Torshin 199 197 197 593 4 Paul Buser 198 197 197 592 5 Jaime González 196 200 196 592 6 Giovanni Liverzani 199 197 195 591 7 Dencho Denev 198 196 196 590 8 Gerhard Petritsch 198 196 196 590 9 Vladimír Hurt 200 198 192 590 10 Jim McNally 195 198 196 589 11 Helmut Seeger 198 197 194 589 12 Daniel Iuga 198 196 195 589 13 Immo Huhtinen 199 198 192 589 14 Zbigniew Fedyczak 197 199 191 587 15 Damián Cerdá 196 196 194 586 16 Erwin Glock 198 197 191 586 17 Thor-Øistein Endsjø 199 196 191 586 18 Alexander Taransky 198 197 191 586 19 John Cooke 197 192 196 585 20 Arturo Costa 194 194 195 583 21 Christian Düring 197 194 192 583 22 Solos Nalampoon 197 196 190 583 23 Szilárd Kun 198 195 190 583 24 Igor Bakalov 200 199 184 583 25 Ion Tripșa 197 198 187 582 26 Jean Baumann 195 196 191 582 27 Seppo Mäkinen 199 197 186 582 28 Bruce McMillan 197 195 190 582 29 Jules Sobrian 195 197 190 582 30 Kanji Kubo 194 197 191 582 31 Curt Andersson 199 197 186 582 32 Hubert Garschall 198 196 187 581 33 Takeo Kamachi 199 199 182 580 34 Tony Clark 197 190 192 579 35 Jean-Richard Germont 199 195 185 579 36 André Antunes 189 197 192 578 37 Homero Laddaga 197 192 189 578 38 Michel Braun 197 196 184 577 39 Tüdeviin Myagmarjav 195 195 187 577 40 Luis Colina 193 196 188 577 41 William Hare 195 193 189 577 42 Ivan Mandov 198 199 179 576 43 Víctor Francis 192 193 188 573 44 Lennart Christensen 194 192 187 573 45 Bill McMillan 199 195 178 572 46 Rangsit Yanothai 196 187 188 571 47 Bruno Morri 195 191 184 570 48 Nelson Torno 190 194 185 569 49 Roberto Ferraris 197 196 175 568 50 Víctor Castellanos 192 191 184 567 51 Guillermo Martínez 192 195 177 564 52 Simon González 193 192 178 563 53 Rafael Recto 188 185 180 553 54 Mario Sánchez 197 187 167 551 55 Leonard Bull 191 186 171 548 56 José Luis Rosales 192 186 165 543 57 Tom Ong 185 180 168 533 58 Peter Laurence 189 172 172 533 59 Robert McAuliffe 180 182 132 494 60 Kurt Rey 196 147 97 440 — Roberto Tamagnini Fernando Miranda — Alejandro Guerra Tserenjav Ulziibaiar Yun Gwon Chai
References
External links Official report pgs. 227 - 228