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Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Shooting
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Dates25-29 July 1952
← 1948
1956 →

With the competitions in shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, the Olympic shooting program began its expansion. Three new events were added: 100 metre running deer, 50 metre rifle three positions and trap. In total there were seven events held between 25 and 29 July 1952.[1] No women participated in the 1952 shooting events. This was the first year that a new format was introduced as well: the sights on the guns were now located on the left side of the barrel.[2]

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
rapid fire pistol
details
 Károly Takács (HUN) 579  Szilárd Kun (HUN) 578  Gheorghe Lichiardopol (ROU) 578
pistol
details
 Huelet Benner (USA) 553  Angel Leon de Gozalo (ESP) 550  Ambrus Balogh (HUN) 549
rifle prone
details
 Iosif Sîrbu (ROU) 400  Boris Andreyev (URS) 400  Arthur Jackson (USA) 399
rifle three positions
details
 Erling Asbjørn Kongshaug (NOR) 1164  Vilho Ylönen (FIN) 1164  Boris Andreyev (URS) 1163
running deer
(single and double shot)
details
 John Larsen (NOR) 413  Per Olof Sköldberg (SWE) 409  Tauno Mäki (FIN) 407
300 metre rifle three positions
details
 Anatoli Bogdanov (URS) 1123  Robert Bürchler (SUI) 1120  Lev Weinstein (URS) 1109
trap
details
 George Genereux (CAN) 192  Knut Holmqvist (SWE) 191  Hans Liljedahl (SWE) 190

Károly Takács stunned the world after winning the 25-metre rapid fire pistol event. In 1940, he was known as the most skilled shooter in the Hungarian armed forces and was thought to be a favorite in the event. Unfortunately, Takács lost a portion of his hand in an accident involving a hand grenade during an operation simulation. Despite his full recovery, he was no longer able to shoot with his dominant hand. Takács trained for 12 years, making his weak hand shooting ability as skilled as his dominant hand once was. Eventually, he went on to win gold in this sport, shocking the world in the process and motivating people around the world to overcome adversity.[3]

Participating nations

A total of 218 shooters from 41 nations competed at the Helsinki Games:[1]

Medal table

RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 Norway (NOR)2002
2 Soviet Union (URS)1124
3 Hungary (HUN)1113
4 Romania (ROU)1012
 United States (USA)1012
6 Canada (CAN)1001
7 Sweden (SWE)0213
8 Finland (FIN)0112
9 Spain (ESP)0101
 Switzerland (SUI)0101
Totals (10 entries)77721

References

  1. ^ a b "Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games". Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  3. ^ "KÁROLY TAKÁCS". Olympic.org. Retrieved 28 February 2017.