Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

Men's 50 metre free pistol at the Games of the II Olympiad
Entrance to the target stand
Venue	Satory
Date	August 1
Competitors	20 from 4 nations
Winning score	503 OR
Medalists
Karl Röderer  Switzerland Achille Paroche  France Konrad Stäheli  Switzerland

The men's individual competition with free revolver event was one of the competitions in the Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics events in Paris. It was held on 1 August 1900. 20 shooters from 4 nations competed, with five shooters per nation. Medals were given for individual high scores, and the scores of the five shooters were summed to give a team score for the team event. The target designed for this competition is still being used today. The event was won by Karl Röderer of Switzerland, with his countryman Konrad Stäheli taking bronze. Between them was Achille Paroche of France with silver.

Background

This was the second appearance of what would become standardised as the men's 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 open to women from 1968 to 1980.

All four of the competing nations were making their debut; none had a shooter in this event in 1896. The event doubled as the first World Championship in free pistol.

Röderer used a Waffenfabrik Bern 1882 Swiss Ordnance Revolver.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 60 shots 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.

Revolver must have a barrel of 11 cm in length. Ties were broken by greatest number of shots on target (1 or better), then greatest number in the black (7 or better), then by ring (10, 9, 8, etc.).

Records

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

World record
Olympic record	New format

Karl Röderer set the initial Olympic record with 503 points.

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Wednesday, 1 August 1900	8:00	Final

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score
	Karl Röderer	Switzerland	503
	Achille Paroche	France	466
	Konrad Stäheli	Switzerland	453
4	Louis Richardet	Switzerland	448
5	Louis Duffoy	France	442
6	Dirk Boest Gips	Netherlands	437
7	Friedrich Lüthi	Switzerland	435
	Léon Moreaux	France	435
9	Paul Probst	Switzerland	432
10	Jules Trinité	France	431
11	Maurice Lecoq	France	429
12	Henrik Sillem	Netherlands	408
13	Alban Rooman	Belgium	405
14	Émile Thèves	Belgium	404
15	Antonius Bouwens	Netherlands	390
16	Victor Robert	Belgium	351
17	Pierre Eichhorn	Belgium	345
18	Solko van den Bergh	Netherlands	331
19	Charles Lebègue	Belgium	318
20	Anthony Sweijs	Netherlands	310

References

• International Olympic Committee medal winners database
• De Wael, Herman. Herman's Full Olympians: "Shooting 1900". Accessed 3 March 2006. Available electronically at [1].
• Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. ISBN 0-7864-0378-0.