Shooting at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Men's 50 metre pistol

The men's ISSF 50 meter pistol (then called free pistol) was one of the thirteen shooting events at the 1988 Summer Olympics. It was the second Olympic free pistol competition to feature final shooting, after an abortive attempt in 1960. There were 43 competitors from 31 nations. Nations had been limited to two shooters each since the 1952 Games. The event was won by Sorin Babii of Romania, the nation's first victory in the event and first medal in free pistol since 1972. Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden repeated as silver medalist, the second man to earn three medals in the free pistol; four years later, he would become the first to win four medals. Soviet Igor Basinski took bronze.

Men's 50 metre pistol at the Games of the XXIV Olympiad
Sorin Babii
Venue	Taereung International Shooting Range
Date	18 September 1988
Competitors	43 from 31 nations
Winning score	660 OR
Medalists
Sorin Babii  Romania Ragnar Skanåker  Sweden Igor Basinski  Soviet Union

Background

This was the 17th 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. 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.

Four of the top 10 shooters from the 1984 Games returned: gold medalist Xu Haifeng of China, silver medalist (and 1972 gold medalist and 1976 and 1980 top-10 finisher) Ragnar Skanåker of Sweden, bronze medalist Wang Yifu of China, and sixth-place finisher Philippe Cola of France. Also returning after the 1984 boycott were 1976 gold medalist Uwe Potteck of East Germany and 1980 gold medalist Aleksandr Melentyev of the Soviet Union. The reigning (1986) world champion was Sergei Pyzhianov, but he was not on the Soviet team that instead comprised Melentyev and world record holder (and runner-up in the world championship) Igor Basinski.

New Zealand made its debut in the event. Sweden and the United States each made their 15th appearance, tied for most of any nation.

Babii used a Tula TOZ 35.

Competition format

The competition featured two rounds, adding a final to the event. The qualifying round was the same as the previous competitions: 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. Now, however, the top 8 shooters advanced to a final. They shot an additional series of 10 shots, with the score added to their qualifying round score to give a 70-shot total. Ties were broken first by final round score. Any pistol was permitted.

Records

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

Qualifying (60 shots)
World record	Aleksandr Melentyev (URS)	581	Moscow, Soviet Union	20 July 1980
Olympic record	Aleksandr Melentyev (URS)	581	Moscow, Soviet Union	20 July 1980

Final (70 shots)
World record	Igor Basinski (URS)				[1]
Olympic record	New format	—	—	—	[2]

Sorin Babii set the initial Olympic record for the final format at 660 points.

Schedule

All times are Korea Standard Time adjusted for daylight savings (UTC+10)

Date	Time	Round
Sunday, 18 September 1988	13:00	Qualifying Final

Results

Qualifying

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score	Notes
1	Igor Basinski	Soviet Union	570	Q
2	Sorin Babii	Romania	566	Q
3	Tanyu Kiryakov	Bulgaria	566	Q
4	Ragnar Skanåker	Sweden	564	Q
5	Gyula Karácsony	Hungary	564	Q
6	Wang Yifu	China	563	Q
7	Arndt Kaspar	West Germany	562	Q
8	Gernot Eder	East Germany	561	Q
9	Uwe Potteck	East Germany	559
10	Zoltán Papanitz	Hungary	559
11	Don Nygord	United States	559
12	Aleksandr Melentiev	Soviet Union	558
	Dario Palazzani	Italy	558
14	Benny Östlund	Sweden	557
	Jerzy Pietrzak	Poland	557
16	Jean Bogaerts	Belgium	556
	Miroslav Růžička	Czechoslovakia	556
	Darius Young	United States	556
19	Phillip Adams	Australia	555
	Philippe Cola	France	555
	Sakari Paasonen	Finland	555
	Tu Tai-hsing	Chinese Taipei	555
23	Roberto Di Donna	Italy	554
	Lyubtcho Diakov	Bulgaria	554
	Alfons Messerschmitt	West Germany	554
	Bengt Sandstrom	Australia	554
	Fumihisa Semizuki	Japan	554
	Xu Haifeng	China	554
29	Min Young-sam	South Korea	552
	Bernardo Tobar	Colombia	552
	U. G. King Hung	Hong Kong	552
32	Hans Hierzer	Austria	550
33	Bruno Déprez	France	547
34	Paul Leatherdale	Great Britain	546
	Undralbatiin Lkhagvaa	Mongolia	546
36	Rolf Beutler	Switzerland	545
	Konstantinos Panageas	Greece	545
38	Horst Krasser	Austria	543
39	Carlos Hora	Peru	540
40	Lisandro Sugezky	Argentina	539
41	Greg Yelavich	New Zealand	535
42	Shuaib Adam	Kenya	532
43	Hubert Foidl	Denmark	531

Final

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Qualifying	Final	Total	Notes
	Sorin Babii	Romania	566	94	660	OR
	Ragnar Skanåker	Sweden	564	93	657
	Igor Basinski	Soviet Union	570	87	657
4	Tanyu Kiryakov	Bulgaria	566	90	656
5	Gernot Eder	East Germany	561	93	654
6	Gyula Karácsony	Hungary	564	90	654
7	Arndt Kaspar	West Germany	562	89	651
8	Wang Yifu	China	563	88	651

Sources

• XXIVth Olympiad Seoul 1988 Official Report – Volume 2 Part 2 (PDF). Retrieved 28 September 2008.