Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Men's 300 metre free rifle, three positions explained

The men's 300 m rifle three positions was a shooting sports event held as part of the Shooting at the 1952 Summer Olympics programme. It was the sixth appearance of the event at an Olympic Games. The competition was held on 27 July 1952, with 32 shooters from 18 nations competing.^[1] Each nation was limited to two shooters.^[2] The event was won by Anatoli Bogdanov with Lev Vainshtein in third, as the Soviet Union took both gold and bronze in its debut. Between the Soviets was Robert Bürchler of Switzerland, earning silver.

Background

This was the sixth appearance of the men's 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.^{[3] [4]} Three of the top 10 shooters from 1948 returned: silver medalist Pauli Janhonen of Finland, eighth-place finisher Holger Erbén of Sweden, and tenth-place finisher Emmett Swanson of the United States. August Hollenstein of Switzerland was the 1952 world champion, with his countryman Robert Bürchler finishing third.^[5]

Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Israel, the Soviet Union, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia each made their debut in the event. Denmark and Norway each made their sixth appearance, the only nations to have competed at every appearance of the event to date; France missed the event for the first time.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. Shots were fired in series of 10. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. Thus, the maximum score possible was 1200 points. Any rifle could be used.^{[5] [6]}

Records

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

Anatoli Bogdanov broke the Olympic record with 1123 points to win. The second-place finisher, Robert Bürchler, equalled the old record. Bürchler set a world record in the kneeling position, with 381 points.^[6]

Schedule

All times are Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)

Results

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Score				Notes
			Standing	Kneeling	Prone	Total
			359	376	388	1123
			350	381	389	1120
			355	376	378	1109
4			354	370	384	1108
5			351	377	379	1107
6			349	371	384	1104
7			347	376	379	1102
8			335	375	389	1099
9			342	369	381	1092
10			349	359	374	1082
11			342	358	377	1077
12			348	351	378	1077
13			340	359	375	1074
14			346	352	375	1073
15			324	359	384	1067
16			326	362	377	1065
17			330	355	372	1057
18			317	371	367	1055
19			322	359	372	1053
20			336	347	353	1036
21			314	349	370	1033
22			330	333	365	1028
23			303	332	373	1008
24			299	336	359	994
25			270	343	371	984
26			291	315	367	973
27			288	323	351	962
28			279	318	358	955
29			266	316	362	944
30			251	321	369	941
31			281	309	342	932
32			245	277	363	885

Notes and References

1. Web site: Shooting at the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games: Men's Free Rifle, Three Positions, 300 metres . https://web.archive.org/web/20200418132134/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1952/SHO/mens-free-rifle-three-positions-300-metres.html . dead . 18 April 2020 . 4 February 2015 . sports-reference.com.
2. Official Report, p. 454.
3. Web site: Historical Results . ISSF . 12 December 2020.
4. The event was open to women in 1968 and 1972.
5. Web site: Free Rifle, Three Positions, 300 metres, Men . Olympedia . 10 December 2020.
6. Official Report, p. 462.