TargetTalk

What is the purpose of this at a match? I see where the usual match in air gun is 60 shots. In some matches they take the top several shooters and have them fire an additional 10 shots for a "Finals".

They take the 8 top qualifiers (during the 60 shot match) and they then shoot an additional ten shots, one shot at a time, scored in tenths of a point. (maximum of 109 points; added to your qulifier score).

This is how they pick the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.

Not required for PTO matches; but not prohibited either if the Match Director wants to require the Finals.

Steve

In order to maintain a presence in the Olympics, each sport needs to be as media friendly and as exciting as possible.

The finals were added to International events to ensure that the media would be willing to cover what was perceived by the uninitiated as a 'boring' sport. What could be more exciting than watching someone in the lead plummet out of the medals or, conversely, rise from 6th or 7th to grab the silver or bronze? In fact, after two Olympiads with finals, the blinders used by shooters were limited in size. The media wanted to see the athletes' faces. If they could zoom in on someone mouthing
"oh sh-t", that was even better.

So, the finals is what keeps the shooting sports at 15 disciplines in this coming Games. Camera's will be focused on the shooter's target screens as well as their faces and, when coverage is seen, you can bet it won't be from the qualifying rounds.

One cool fact to note, Women's Air Rifle is traditionally the first medal given at the Olympic Games. Let's hope this year that it is won by Emily C! (or, any other shooter not from China).

As well as making it more media "friendly", finals are the ultimate test of being able to remain calm under pressure. During the main match you can (depending on the event of course) take things at your own pace while being in your own little world. However during finals you can almost feel all the eyes of the audience burning holes in the back of your head. Each individual's score for each round is read out by an official so everyone know just how well (or not) you are doing. Naturally the more finals you get to shoot, the easier it becomes, but the shooter experiencing a greatly increased pulse-rate and poor shots being fired (well below the standard the shooter would normally expect during the main match) are all common occurrences during finals.

Thanks for the replies. I now understand. I suppose the only time this would occur is when one is shooting on a range where the targets are automatically scored electronically. This "finals" score would not be considered where the classification breakdowns are made, would it?

Finals are often shot using gauges for scoring. They are always held at our Nationals and at State Titles here.

The line judges use special decimal scoring gauges. The RIKA electronic scoring machine will also manage decimal scoring for finals. Manual finals scoring is slow but there are often big galleries of other competitors watching the action and the delay between the shot being fired and the score's announcement adds to the suspense.

Finals are often shot using gauges for scoring. They are always held at our Nationals and at State Titles here.

The line judges use special decimal scoring gauges. The RIKA electronic scoring machine will also manage decimal scoring for finals. Manual finals scoring is slow but there are often big galleries of other competitors watching the action and the delay between the shot being fired and the score's announcement adds to the suspense.

Also add the extremely high scores everyone shoots in the qualifiers to the reasons for having a final. You can't give Gold, Silver and Bronze to 3 people who all shot the same score.

methosb wrote:You can't have Gold, Silver and Bronze to 3 people who all shot the same score.

But for those events without Finals you could have three golds - 7.12.1.1, 8.12.1.1, 9.12.3.2.1, 10.12.1

creedmoor rules

I'll bite Steve, what are 'creedmore rules'?

A way of breaking ties without finals/without a shootoff.

Start with last 10-shot string and go backwards; as soon as one shooter outdoes the other, stop- youhave a winner (can also be used for three-way ties. Also, if both shooters have identical string scores, start at last shot and go backwards).

Steve