The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1960 Summer Olympics programme. It was the tenth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 5 and 6 September 1960 at the Umberto I Shooting Range in Rome. 67 shooters from 40 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Aleksey Gushchin of the Soviet Union, as the Soviet team finished 1–2 with Makhmud Umarov repeating as silver medalist (the third man to earn multiple medals in the event). Yoshihisa Yoshikawa (who would become the fourth multi-medalist four years later) of Japan took bronze.
Background
This was the 10th appearance of the ISSF 50 meter pistol event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1920 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1936 to 2016; it was nominally open to women from 1968 to 1980, although very few women participated these years. A separate women's event would be introduced in 1984. 1896 and 1908 were the only Games in which the distance was not 50 metres; the former used 30 metres and the latter 50 yards.
Three of the top 10 shooters from the 1956 Games returned: gold medalist Pentti Linnosvuo of Finland, silver medalist Makhmud Umarov of the Soviet Union, and sixth-place finisher (and 1936 gold and 1948 bronze medalist and 1952 sixth-place finisher) Torsten Ullman of Sweden. 1952 silver medalist Ángel León Gozalo of Spain and bronze medalist Ambrus Balogh of Hungary also returned. Umarov was the reigning (1958) world champion, with fellow Soviet Aleksey Gushchin the runner-up.
The British West Indies, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, San Marino, Singapore, and Thailand each made their debut in the event; East and West Germany competed together as the United Team of Germany for the first time. The United States made its ninth appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the 1900 event.
Gushchin used a Izhmash Isch 1.
Competition format
The 1960 competition introduced a two-round format. In the first round, each shooter fired 40 shots, in 4 series of 10 shots each, at 50 metres. The top 27 shooters in each of the two qualifying groups advanced to the final. The final had each shooter fire 60 shots, in 6 series of 10 shots each, at a distance of 50 metres.
The target was round, 50 centimetres in diameter, with 10 scoring rings. Scoring for each shot was up to 10 points, in increments of 1 point. The maximum score possible in the final was 600 points. Any pistol was permitted. Shoot-offs were held to break ties for top ranks.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 937.
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
The 24-year old Olympic record fell to Aleksey Gushchin, who beat it by 1 point with his final round of 560.
Schedule
Date Time Round Monday, 5 September 1960 9:00 Qualifying Tuesday, 6 September 1960 9:00 Final
Results
Qualifying
Group 1
Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes 1 Vladimír Kudrna 376 2 Stanisław Romik 365 3 Torsten Ullman 363 4 Nelson Lincoln 360 5 Minervino González 360 6 Aleksey Gushchin 359 7 Todor Kozlovski 359 8 Albert Späni 356 9 Piercarlo Beroldi 356 10 Tadao Matsui 354 11 Karlo Umek 353 12 Kaarle Pekkala 353 13 Ambrus Balogh 350 14 Ilie Nițu 350 15 Miguel Barasorda 349 16 Wolfgang Losack 348 17 António Jorge 345 18 Marcel Lafortune 343 19 Pedro Puente 343 20 Dimitrios Kasoumis 341 21 Álvaro dos Santos Filho 341 22 François Fug 337 23 Godfrey Brunner 337 24 Amorn Yuktanandana 336 25 Raúl Ibarra 334 26 José Agdamag 332 27 Rodney Johnson 329 28 Sanusi Tjokroadiredjo 328 29 Noe Balvin 323 30 Frank Dobson 319 31 Zafar Ahmed Muhammad 289 32 Spartaco Cesaretti 252 33 Naji El-Mekki 247 — Keith De Casseres
Group 2
Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes 1 Makhmud Umarov 375 2 Jiří Hrneček 366 3 Pentti Linnosvuo 363 4 Horst Kadner 359 5 Giorgio Ercolani 358 6 Ilija Ničić 355 7 Dencho Denev 355 8 Frédéric Michel 354 9 Garfield McMahon 352 10 John Hurst 350 11 Yoshihisa Yoshikawa 350 12 André Antunes 348 13 Andrzej Tomza 347 14 Leif Larsson 347 15 Kurt Johannessen 346 16 Ángel León Gozalo 345 17 John Tremelling 344 18 John Tomlinson 344 19 An Jae-song 341 20 Edward Penn 340 21 Ignacio Mendoza 340 22 Chalermsakdi Inswang 339 23 Fred Guillermety 339 24 Antonio Vita 337 25 Ambrosio Rocha 336 26 Gavril Maghiar 336 27 Georgios Marmaridis 332 28 William Gillies 332 29 Serge Hubert 330 30 Kok Kum Woh 325 31 Hernando Hoyos 319 32 Tony Bridge 319 33 Aroldo Casali 271
Final
Rank Shooter Nation Qualifying Final Notes Aleksey Gushchin 359 560 Makhmud Umarov 375 552 Shoot-off: 26 Yoshihisa Yoshikawa 350 552 Shoot-off: 20 4 Torsten Ullman 363 550 5 Stanisław Romik 365 548 6 Albert Späni 356 546 7 Vladimír Kudrna 376 545 8 Horst Kadner 359 544 9 Nelson Lincoln 360 543 10 Gavril Maghiar 336 542 11 Garfield McMahon 352 542 12 Tadao Matsui 354 540 13 Pentti Linnosvuo 363 539 14 Wolfgang Losack 348 538 15 Leif Larsson 347 538 16 Ambrus Balogh 350 538 17 John Hurst 350 538 18 Ángel León Gozalo 345 537 19 Frédéric Michel 354 537 20 Antonio Vita 337 535 21 John Tremelling 344 534 22 Karlo Umek 353 533 23 Piercarlo Beroldi 356 532 24 Dencho Denev 355 532 25 Todor Kozlovski 359 532 26 Kurt Johannessen 346 531 27 Kaarle Pekkala 353 531 28 Andrzej Tomza 347 530 29 Ilija Ničić 355 529 30 Godfrey Brunner 337 528 31 Minervino González 360 528 32 Rodney Johnson 329 527 33 Chalermsakdi Inswang 339 525 34 Marcel Lafortune 343 525 35 Ilie Nițu 350 524 36 António Jorge 345 522 37 Pedro Puente 343 522 38 Raúl Ibarra 334 522 39 Miguel Barasorda 349 522 40 Edward Penn 340 521 41 Ignacio Mendoza 340 520 42 An Jae-song 341 520 43 Álvaro dos Santos Filho 341 518 44 Giorgio Ercolani 358 517 45 Amorn Yuktanandana 336 515 46 Dimitrios Kasoumis 341 515 47 Jiří Hrneček 366 513 48 Fred Guillermety 339 513 49 John Tomlinson 344 507 50 Ambrosio Rocha 336 503 51 François Fug 337 502 52 Georgios Marmaridis 332 497 53 José Agdamag 332 490 54 André Antunes 348 489
References