The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1984 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on July 29, 1984, at the shooting ranges in Los Angeles. 56 shooters from 38 nations competed. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Xu Haifeng of China, with his countryman Wang Yifu taking bronze. As the free pistol was the first medal event in 1984 and the People's Republic of China fully competed for the first time in 1984, these were the first Olympic medals won by competitors from that nation. Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden took silver, 12 years after winning his first medal (gold in 1972); he was the seventh man to win multiple medals in the event and third to win medals 12 years apart (Torsten Ullman had medaled in 1936 and 1948, Harald Vollmar in 1968, 1976, and 1980).
Background This was the 16th 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 1980 Games returned: seventh-place finisher (and 1972 gold medalist and 1976 fifth-place finisher) Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden, eighth-place finisher Paavo Palokangas of Finland, and ninth-place finisher Sylvio Carvalho of Brazil. Skanåker was also the reigning (1982) world champion. Many of the rest of the 1980 Olympians were from Eastern Bloc nations, including the reigning gold medalist and 1982 world championship runner-up Aleksandr Melentyev of the Soviet Union.
The People's Republic of China, Chinese Taipei, Ecuador, India, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Senegal each made their debut in the event. Sweden and the United States each made their 14th appearance, tied for most of any nation.
Xu used a Hämmerli 150.
Competition format Each shooter fired 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 was 600 points. Any pistol was permitted.Official Report, vol. 2, p. 535.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.
Schedule Date Time Round Sunday, 29 July 1984 9:00 Final
Results Rank Shooter Nation Score Xu Haifeng 566 Ragnar Skanåker 565 Wang Yifu 564 4 Jürgen Hartmann 560 5 Vincenzo Tondo 560 6 Philippe Cola 559 7 Hector de Lima Carrilla 558 8 Paavo Palokangas 558 9 Erich Buljung 558 10 Tu Tsai-hsing 558 11 Sorin Babii 555 Carlos Hora 555 Vinzenz Schweighofer 555 14 Rolf Beutler 554 Don Nygord 554 16 Seo In-taek 553 17 Bernardo Tovar 552 18 Tom Guinn 551 Chikafumi Hirai 551 20 Phil Adams 550 Ernesto Alais 550 Walter Bauza 550 23 Gerhard Beyer 548 Galo Miño 548 25 Sylvio Carvalho 546 Mariano Lara 546 27 Ángel Corsino Fernández 543 Arthur Spencer 543 29 Ove Gunnarsson 540 Shigetoshi Tashiro 540 31 Shuaib Adam 539 Baljit Singh Kharab 539 Park Seung-rin 539 Somchai Thingpakdee 539 35 Sabiamad Abdul Ahad 537 36 Gary Aramist 536 Gilbert U 536 38 Luis Ortiz 535 39 José Jacques Pena 533 40 Herbert Binder 532 Edgar Espinoza 532 Pedro García Jr. 532 43 Paúl Margraff 531 44 William Henderson 528 45 Rolf Lofstad 523 46 Geoffrey Robinson 521 47 Juma Al-Rahbi 520 48 Manhi Al-Mutairy 513 Jean-Pierre Gasparotti 513 50 Joël Nigiono 505 51 Germano Bollini 500 Gianfranco Giardi 500 53 Amadou Ciré Baal 499 54 Nirundon Lepananon 494 55 Roland Scott 459 56 Ali Al-Ghafiri 445
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