The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 27 July 1952, with 32 shooters from 18 nations competing. Each nation was limited to two shooters.Official Report, p. 454. The event was won by Anatoli Bogdanov with Lev Vainshtein in third, as the Soviet Union took both gold and bronze in its debut. Between the Soviets was Robert Bürchler of Switzerland, earning silver.
Background
This was the sixth appearance of the men's 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.The event was open to women in 1968 and 1972. Three of the top 10 shooters from 1948 returned: silver medalist Pauli Janhonen of Finland, eighth-place finisher Holger Erbén of Sweden, and tenth-place finisher Emmett Swanson of the United States. August Hollenstein of Switzerland was the 1952 world champion, with his countryman Robert Bürchler finishing third.
Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Israel, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Denmark and Norway each made their sixth appearance, the only nations to have competed at every appearance of the event to date; France missed the event for the first time.
Competition format
The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. Shots were fired in series of 10. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. Thus, the maximum score possible was 1200 points. Any rifle could be used.Official Report, p. 462.
Records
Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
Anatoli Bogdanov broke the Olympic record with 1123 points to win. The second-place finisher, Robert Bürchler, equalled the old record. Bürchler set a world record in the kneeling position, with 381 points.
Schedule
All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Date Time Round Sunday, 27 July 1952 9:00 Final
Results
Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes Standing Kneeling Prone Total Anatoli Bogdanov 359 376 388 1123 Robert Bürchler 350 381 389 1120 Lev Vainshtein 355 376 378 1109 4 August Hollenstein 354 370 384 1108 5 Vilho Ylönen 351 377 379 1107 6 Robert Sandager 349 371 384 1104 7 Holger Erbén 347 376 379 1102 8 Walther Fröstell 335 375 389 1099 9 Pablo Cagnasso 342 369 381 1092 10 Ambrus Balogh 349 359 374 1082 11 Erling Kongshaug 342 358 377 1077 12 Pauli Janhonen 348 351 378 1077 13 David Schiaffino 340 359 375 1074 14 Jovan Kratohvil 346 352 375 1073 15 Uffe Schultz Larsen 324 359 384 1067 16 Stjepan Prauhardt 326 362 377 1065 17 Mauritz Amundsen 330 355 372 1057 18 Emmett Swanson 317 371 367 1055 19 Gil Boa 322 359 372 1053 20 Ferenc Décsey 336 347 353 1036 21 Dov Ben-Dov 314 349 370 1033 22 Rigoberto Rivero 330 333 365 1028 23 Ahmed Hamdi 303 332 373 1008 24 Harihar Banerjee 299 336 359 994 25 Humberto Briceño 270 343 371 984 26 Shmuel Laviv-Lubin 291 315 367 973 27 Alberto Braga 288 323 351 962 28 John Pearson 279 318 358 955 29 Jocelyn Barlow 266 316 362 944 30 Saad El-Din El-Shorbagui 251 321 369 941 31 Antônio Guimarães 281 309 342 932 32 Alfredo Mury 245 277 363 885
References