Congratulations Jason Turner

[Richard H]

I included a link to the IOC decision on my blog if any one is interested.

http://rhutch.wordpress.com/

[Guest]

Congrats to Jason, he has worked long and hard and made great sacrifice to stay on the team as long as he has. I'm sure the US will fight to keep shooting in, Gary Anderson is an officer of the ISSF and close to IOC members. Shooting offers many countries which would otherwise not have competitive athletes a chance to compete in the Olympics. I think you will see some changes soon though- probably the elimination of 25 meter events due to lack of participation. 10 meter is growing and may get rapid fire as well as women's sport. The cost of a separate venue for 25 meters has always been an issue, but that lands in the lap of the host country. One side note the USOC had all but cut funding for pistol since they had not won a medal since 1988, lets hope they restore the funding now.

[kbc]

After reading some of the posts here, I begin to wonder if I will be able to pass the doping test. I have high blood pressure and I take Quinapril and Norvasc. Novasc makes me very drawsy so I take it at night. I seriously wonder if any of these contains beta-blocker or its derivatives. Does any one?

Thank you.
kang

[Richard H]

Here is a website to check your meds.


DID Global

If you compete you should check all prescription and OTC drugs. The athlete is responsible for whatever they take.

If this is what you meant QUINAPRIL (QUINAPRIL HYDROCHLORIDE), it seems to be not prohibited.

You can just enter the DIN number which is the most accurate way.

[Pat McCoy]

KBC,

you can go to http://www.usantidoping.org/ for drug info.

We triedsome "shot -group-tightener" one eveneing at the local range and found an ounce helps, but any more hurts performance. Of course that may depend on youur size also.

Many drugs that are forbidden (diuretics) don't give any advantage, but are illegal due to their possible masking effect of other drugs. I'll never be tested, due to lack of ability, so continue to compete (against myslef) at local events. Not using a beta-blocker, which does give an advantage, but an ACE inhibitor which is on the allowed list.

[kbc]

Hi Pat and Richard,

Thank you very much for providing the information on drugs. Now I feel reliefed knowing that my shooting performance is not affected by my high pressure / hyper tension medication

Kang

[Fortitudo Dei]

I think you will see some changes soon though- probably the elimination of 25 meter events due to lack of participation. 10 meter is growing and may get rapid fire as well as women's sport. The cost of a separate venue for 25 meters has always been an issue, but that lands in the lap of the host country.

There might be a lack of participation in 25m ISSF shooting in your country "Anonymous", but in many others across the world, 25m events are the back-bone of pistol shooting. Making Standard Pistol and/or Centrefire Olympic events would make more sense than scrapping the whole shebang. I don't recall the provision of a 25m range being a great "issue" for countries hosting the Olympics and the cost of providing one would be fraction of (say) the cost of building an artificial white-water kayaking venue.

[Guest]

Get your hackles down- just talking about the IOC, not the ISSF. The ISSF still has running target and 300 meter rifle in the Worlds, but those events have been dropped from the Olympics. Take a look at RF- 19 participants. Combine that with Sport and you have maybe 45 shooters tops. The venue will run 6-8 million US dollars fully equipped , ticket sales for both events is also a factor. Sorry, I like both sports but when they are cutting baseball and softball you have to see the reality of the direction of the Olympics. If you hade to make the cuts in shooting, what would you cut?

[j-team]

[quote="Anonymous"] Take a look at RF- 19 participants. Combine that with Sport and you have maybe 45 shooters tops. quote]

Thats because of the limited quotas, nothing to do with countries not wanting to enter those events.

What also has to be considered is that after the Olympics (2 weeks long!) the venue will be there for many years to come and thats when the 25m range will become invaluable as most "club level" pistol shooting is done on the 25m range. Take a look at Munich. Built for 1972 and still well used and still one of the best ranges in the world.

This doesn't count for london 2012 though, they're just going use their range for bulldozer driver training after the Games!

[Guest]

right- look at Chino, Atlanta and Athens. Chino still has limited use but is nothing near a world class facility.

[Richard H]

Montreal was torn down too.

The only successful venue is really Munich.

One problem is that the facilities to host the olympics are so large, they are too expensive for most clubs to take care of after the games.

[Spencer]

...One problem is that the facilities to host the olympics are so large, they are too expensive for most clubs to take care of after the games.

More or less agree, but my home pistol club has 50m and 25m range facilities equal in bay numbers to the Olympics - the 10m is much smaller in capacity. We have a number of ranges in Australia of this range capacity.

Much of the infrastructure for an Olympics range is temporary (athletes/team facilities, broadcast, additional spectator seating, access control, volunteer rooms, catering, transport, etc., etc.) - an Olympics range is not all that big once the temporary 'overlay' is removed.
For shotgun things are not so bad, but the electronic targets for 10m, 25m and 50m in a post-Olympics range need specialist maintenance ($$$).
Additionally, Olympic ranges are typically constructed to meet the Olympics operations, with post Olympics given little consideration - bureaucracy is the same the whole world over.

[Richard H]

Its not just the actual range facilities ie firing points, but all the other things that are required. Spectator areas and associated facilities, these all have to be maintained and add to the operating cost. Also in North America there just really aren't the number of club members for most clubs to generate the revenue, even in large urban areas.

The other problem is they want the range close to the rest of the Olympic venues. This means usually putting the range in an urban area. Not the best neighborhood for a range and the property is usually too expensive to be used as a permanent range. This is the problem they are having with London 2012 Facilities. Right now they are looking at locating them at some military property in London and they will be all but torn down after leaving no legacy facilities.

What is the status of the Sydney facilities?

[j-team]

One problem is that the facilities to host the olympics are so large, they are too expensive for most clubs to take care of after the games.

Thats what happens when host cities are more interested in trying to out do the previous host rather than actually trying to build something that can become an asset for the fture of the particular sport.

[j-team]

[quote="Spencer"]
For shotgun things are not so bad, but the electronic targets for 10m, 25m and 50m in a post-Olympics range need specialist maintenance ($$$).
quote]

These can be removed and sold off and replaced with (gasp!) paper taget systems. You know those things that 99% of shooters in the world shoot at!

[Richard H]

Sounds good but where is the big market for used electronic scoring systems. Also once you pull the electronic you no longer have a world class training facility, just a bigger version of the crappy ranges that we already have.

[Spencer]

... What is the status of the Sydney facilities?

Fully operational with World Cups every couple of years, Oceania Regional Championships, plus club, zone, Australia Cup, and various other competitions.
Ranges open for general (ISSF) shooting when not in use for competitions.

Spencer

[Richard H]

That's good to hear, can add that to the list of Olympic shooting ranges still in operation.

[kbc]

The 1984 Olympic air pistol range (Prado) in Chino Hills is often rented out for catering events. As a result, the number of shooting lanes has been reduced to about or less than 10 functioning lanes. And the range management is reluctant to reinstall the removed shooting lanes.