The mixed 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1968 Summer Olympics programme. It was the 10th appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 23 October 1968, with 30 shooters from 16 nations competing. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Gary Anderson of the United States, the only person to successfully defend an Olympic title in the event (and one of only three to win multiple medals of any color). It was the United States' third gold medal in the event, most of any nation. Valentin Kornev extended the Soviet Union's podium streak in the event to five Games with his silver. Swiss shooter Kurt Müller took bronze.

As with all shooting events in 1968, the event was open to women for the first time. Though the event switched from men's to (formally) mixed, it is generally considered the same event—for example, the Official Report writes that Anderson successfully defended his title.Official Report, p. 425. While women did compete in shooting in 1968, none competed in this event.

Background

This was the 10th appearance of the 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.The event was only open to women in 1968 and 1972; before that, it was a men's event only. Three of the top 10 shooters from 1964 returned: gold medalist Gary Anderson of the United States, silver medalist Shota Kveliashvili of the Soviet Union, and seventh-place finisher Kurt Müller of Switzerland. Anderson had won the last two world championships (1962 and 1966) and set the world record as well the Tokyo 1964 Olympic gold.

East Germany made its separate debut in the event. Finland, Sweden, and the United States each made their ninth appearance, tied for most of all nations.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each position. 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.

Records

Prior to the competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

Gary Anderson broke his own world record with 1157 to repeat as Olympic champion.

Schedule

All times are Central Standard Time (UTC-6)

Date Time Round Wednesday, 23 October 1968 Final

Results

Rank Shooter Nation Score Notes Prone Kneeling Standing Total Gary Anderson 394 389 374 1157 Valentin Kornev 398 384 369 1151 Kurt Müller 395 379 374 1148 4 Shota Kveliashvili 394 383 365 1142 5 Erwin Vogt 398 384 358 1140 6 Hartmut Sommer 389 384 367 1140 7 John Foster 386 386 368 1140 8 Petre Șandor 394 376 368 1138 9 Elling Øvergård 397 382 356 1135 10 Lajos Papp 391 385 359 1135 11 Juhani Laakso 382 386 367 1135 12 Jan Kůrka 391 380 362 1133 13 Sven Johansson 393 386 350 1129 14 Bjørn Bakken 392 380 357 1129 15 Ryszard Fandier 389 381 357 1127 16 Ferenc Petrovácz 390 379 357 1126 17 Kurt Johansson 395 385 345 1125 18 Ondrej Šima 391 378 352 1121 19 Osmo Ala-Honkola 391 384 345 1120 20 Eugeniusz Pędzisz 385 376 356 1117 21 Olegario Vázquez 389 365 356 1110 22 Adolfo Feliciano 378 371 359 1108 23 Uto Wunderlich 377 374 356 1107 24 Ștefan Kaban 392 367 343 1102 25 José González 370 366 356 1092 26 Wu Tao-yan 378 369 338 1085 27 Yondonjamtsyn Batsükh 390 364 328 1082 28 Bernardo San Juan 379 349 332 1060 29 José Marroquín 380 333 314 1027 30 Félipe Ortiz 377 343 303 1023

References