Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

Men's 50 metre pistol
at the Games of the XV Olympiad
Shooting pictogram
VenueMalmi shooting range, Malmi, Helsinki
Date25 July
Competitors48 from 28 nations
Winning score553
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Huelet Benner
 United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ángel León Gozalo
 Spain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ambrus Balogh
 Hungary
← 1948
1956 →

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the eighth appearance of the event. The competition was held on 25 July 1952 at the shooting ranges in Helsinki. 48 shooters from 28 nations competed.[1] The maximum number of shooters per nation was reduced to 2, from 3 in previous Games.[2] The event was won by Huelet Benner of the United States, the nation's first victory in the event since 1920 (and fourth overall, most of any nation). Silver went to Ángel León Gozalo of Spain and bronze to Ambrus Balogh of Hungary; they were the first medals in the free pistol for both nations.

Background

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This was the eighth 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.[3] 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.[4][5]

Five of the top 10 shooters from the 1948 Games returned: bronze medalist (and 1936 gold medalist) Torsten Ullman of Sweden, fourth-place finisher Huelet Benner of the United States, fifth-place finisher Beat Rhyner of Switzerland, sixth-place finisher Ángel León Gozalo of Spain, and seventh-place finisher Ambrus Balogh of Hungary. Ullman was again the world champion in 1952, two weeks before the Games, his fifth time (1933, 1935, 1937, and 1947). Benner finished third at the world championships.

Bulgaria, Egypt, Guatemala, Mexico, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Greece and the United States each made their seventh appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Benner used a Hämmerli 100.

Competition format

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The competition 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 was 600 points. Any pistol was permitted.[5][6]

Records

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

World record  Torsten Ullman (SWE) 559 Berlin, Germany 7 August 1936
Olympic record  Torsten Ullman (SWE) 559 Berlin, Germany 7 August 1936

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Friday, 25 July 1952 9:00 Final

Results

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Rank Shooter Nation Score
1st place, gold medalist(s) Huelet Benner  United States 553
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Ángel León Gozalo  Spain 550
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Ambrus Balogh  Hungary 549
4 Konstantin Martazov  Soviet Union 546
5 Lev Vainshtein  Soviet Union 546
6 Torsten Ullman  Sweden 543
7 Klaus Lahti  Finland 541
8 Beat Rhyner  Switzerland 539
9 Francisco Sandoval  Guatemala 535
10 Oiva Tylli  Finland 535
11 Hugo Lundkvist  Sweden 532
12 Ronald Guy  Great Britain 531
13 Raúl Ibarra  Mexico 530
14 Ferenc Décsey  Hungary 530
15 František Maxa  Czechoslovakia 530
16 Mario de Armas  Cuba 526
17 Gunnar Svendsen  Norway 523
18 José Reyes Rodríguez  Mexico 523
19 Jorge de Oliveira  Brazil 522
20 Luciano Galesi  Italy 522
21 Edvard Delorenco  Yugoslavia 521
22 Félix Cortes  Philippines 521
23 Rudolf Vuk  Yugoslavia 521
24 Miroslav Proft  Czechoslovakia 519
25 Rolf Klementsen  Norway 518
26 Stoyan Popov  Bulgaria 517
27 Alberto Guerrero  Puerto Rico 517
28 Antoine Shousha  Egypt 517
29 Abdel Sattar Tarabulsi  Lebanon 517
30 Harry Wendell Reeves  United States 515
31 Carlos Choque  Argentina 515
32 Martin Gison  Philippines 515
33 Álvaro dos Santos Filho  Brazil 513
34 Fritz Krempel  Germany 512
35 Enrique Ojeda  Chile 510
36 Renato Sacchi  Italy 509
37 Hector de Lima Polanco  Venezuela 506
38 Alexander Specker  Switzerland 506
39 Herman Schultz  Monaco 501
40 André Martin  France 500
41 Nikolay Khristozov  Bulgaria 500
42 William White  Great Britain 498
43 Georgios Stathis  Greece 496
44 Ramiro Ortiz  Puerto Rico 492
45 Mohamed Ahmed Aly  Egypt 491
46 Khalil Hilmi  Lebanon 489
47 Roger Tauvel  France 489
48 Carlos Marrero  Venezuela 483

References

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  1. ^ "Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Free Pistol, 50 metres". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  2. ^ Official Report, p. 454.
  3. ^ "Shooting". Olympedia. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Free Pistol, 50 Metres, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  6. ^ Official Report, p. 457.