RT at the Olympics?

[Laufende]

I was speaking to someone earlier this year that heard that there was a movement to try to get RT back into the Olympics for 2020.

Does anyone know whether this is something that is being organised by shooting federations? I know for those people that were involved in the sport it was a big loss after 2004.

Whilst it is good to have the world champs, the Olympics has a special place in sports.

Cheers

Paul

[kaban56]

Let's keep our fingers crossed.....

When will the list of 2020 events be finalized? As I recall, we learned about RT removal from OG around mid May of 2003. By following this timeline, we only have about 9 months left..... What can we do?

[Spencer]

Political realities:
- step 1; World Cups - how many NFs have Running Target shooters capable of getting into a World Cup Final if RT was back in World Cups?
- how many NFs have an active RT programme?
- which of the other ISSF disciplines would have to give up Quota Places to make way for RT?

[conradin]

But RT has been a traditional Olympic sport for many years in various disguises. Adding 8 more events will not be too much of a time wasting..the range has already been set up for 10, 25, and 50.

[Spencer]

But RT has been a traditional Olympic sport for many years in various disguises. Adding 8 more events will not be too much of a time wasting..the range has already been set up for 10, 25, and 50.

repeating:
which of the other ISSF disciplines would have to give up Quota Places to make way for RT?
...it's about bums in beds

having been directly involved in running an Olympics with RT (2000), it is an interesting exercise shuffling the targets around for training, qualification and Finals.

[januzgi]

There is a chance, but we will hear about the official decision in the upcoming months.

The ISSF is looking forward to Granada WCH for comparing countries participation in rt and double trap. The more we have participation in rt in Spain the better. Since shooting is one of the core sports in the 2020 Games, it's mostly up to ISSF to decide which disciplines will be held in 2020.

I've heard this from Pekka Kuusisto (Chairman of the ISSF Running Target Committee) who has been working hard on lobbying rt to the Games. He has tried to get in contact with shooters (to participate in 2014 WCH) from every continent so that qualifying to Olympic family would be possible. It is one of the requirements to have athletes in every continent.

So as mentioned it is kind of a competition between double trap and rt for Quota places.

Greetz
Jani Suoranta

[Laufende]

That is the danger of losing your slot at the Olympics is that the funding dries up, the participation and general awareness goes down and then it is an uphill struggle to get the infrastructure back in.

So in terms of which countries having RT programmes it is likely that the participation levels will have fallen as it is not in the Olympics.

There is still RT across all continents - looking at the country participation levels at the 2012 ISSF WCH (mens 10m) a summary by athlete's country is:

Country / Count
AUT 1
CHN 3
COL 1
CZE 3
FIN 3
GER 3
HUN 3
KAZ 2
KOR 1
NOR 2
POL 1
QAT 3
RUS 3
SVK 3
SWE 3
UKR 3
VIE 2
Grand Total 40

Not a bad spread across continents - good to see representation from S America, China and the Middle East/Asia
The biggies that are missing are the US (and I know that there are people in the US up to the necessary standard to compete!) and Australia

I would particularly welcome Spencer's Australian view / insight into this as he was involved in the Olympics there, can tell us what the position in Australia for RT is now and as the next Commonwealth Games will be in Oz in 2018 what the likelihood of RT making it in there will be.

Perhaps the focus should just be on the heartlands of Europe where it is most popular as a starting point? The big loss in Northern Europe was the cessation of the senior Nordic Champs. I understand the Norwegians have looked to starting Moving Target shooting as a senior comp again, but it is a lot of effort and with not much funding available.

From the UK perspective my personal aim is to simply raise awareness and increase participation levels here.

Welcome your thoughts!

[Spencer]

RT has never had a big following in AUS. There used to be State Championships in four states, but typically the number of shooters was about the same as the number of competition officials involved.
Two of the Sius EST units from 2000 Olympics are still here, but not installed on a range.
When the body that looks after RT is not affiliated to the NF, it makes it difficult to see RT growing in AUS.

[Mike M.]

I suspect the question might be, "How do we reduce the cost of the target system?" It's like Rapid Fire...if RF were new, it wouldn't stand a chance of being an Olympic event due to the cost of the target system.

Having said that, the Summer Games are a logistic nightmare. They desperately need to be broken up, possibly into a Spring Games (indoor sports), Summer Games (water sports), and Autumn Games (outdoor sports). As things stand, you've got to find secure lodging for ~40,000 athletes and officials.

Which isn't easy.

[RTarget]

HI

I would not stick to those quotes. This does not reflect the real life of RT. Lots of teams are not coming to WCH because lack of funding or other regulative reasons. Look at the more local level - European CH, Asian Games, even Dubai for example.

That is the danger of losing your slot at the Olympics is that the funding dries up, the participation and general awareness goes down and then it is an uphill struggle to get the infrastructure back in.

[j-team]

I suspect the question might be, "How do we reduce the cost of the target system?" It's like Rapid Fire...if RF were new, it wouldn't stand a chance of being an Olympic event due to the cost of the target system.

Rapid Fire uses the same range as Womens 25m Pistol so at least there is 2 Olympic events using the same set up. Also, non Olympic events Centre fire and Standard Pistol use the same range. And, post games, the 25m range would be one of the most used ranges for local and regional pistol shooting.