USA Emmons Wins Bronze

[matchguy]

What a match. May be dry to some but if you have a stake in it with half a chance of some metal, it's exciting. A US shooter is our stake.

He almost got the silver. He started in the silver position, then tied with France then Korea moved in then Emmons got some fantastic shots putting him back in the silver up .6. The Korean got a 10.4 on his last shot. Emmons then blew it with a 7.6. A 9.9 would have won silver for the US.

If that's not exciting in the shooting sports, don't know what is.

Right on the last shot, NBC's lousy technology kicked in and it went into a wait state after they injected another commercial. Couldn't watch the end until several minutes after it was over. NO, there's nothing wrong with my computer. There's no shortage of info on the problems they had/have broadcasting their coverage over the internet. Has nothing to do with internet speed. Their website was poorly written/tested and they underestimated their capacity.

[Richard H]

As the saying goes a Bronze is better than no medal at all but Matt is cursed in the Olympic finals. I can only think his mind must be saying when it comes to the last shot "don't screw up" and that is exactly what happens. All that said he had a tough year and it's great to see him back in good form. One of the nicest guys around. I guess on the up side the Koreans like him as much as the Chinese do now.

[Abi]

USA got a medal, and they all shot better than I do. Campriani set 2 Olympic Records. I thought it was very exciting to watch.

I was not a fan of the 5-second infomercials thrown in every time the announcer was explaining the leader board. That would not be helpful for those people watching that may not be familiar with the sport.

[Richard H]

On CTV on line it's the original feed with no interruptions.

[RobB]

Infact a 8.9 would have got silver for Matthew. Just watched the final and Campriani was fantastic. Only relaxing on his last shot - 9.0

Niccolo Campriani 1278.5 - Olympic Record
Kim Jonghyun 1272.5
Matthew Emmons 1271.3

I tried getting tickets for the shooting in the first sales release last year...not a chance :(

[joel]

First time for me watching the shooting events and I found them to be very exciting. However, the whole idea of starting off using your qualifying score seems wrong to me. Qualifying should be used just to get into the finals like in swimming, track, archery and everything else. Clean slate in the finals, imho.

Joel

[Bowman26]

On the LAST SHOT AGAIN! Jesus he needs to just pretend he never has a last shot to take or something to get this out of his head. Well I guess at least it was good enough to stay in the medals this time.

[Richard H]

There's any number of things that could be done, such as use the qualifying as a seeding round for the finals. Then have them shoot head to head in the finals till you get a gold/silver and a bronze/4th pairing.

[bluetentacle]

First time for me watching the shooting events and I found them to be very exciting. However, the whole idea of starting off using your qualifying score seems wrong to me. Qualifying should be used just to get into the finals like in swimming, track, archery and everything else. Clean slate in the finals, imho.

Joel

It's tough to apply this principle to 3P, because you only shoot in one position in the final.

[EJ]

I understand the idea of separating qualifications and finals, but why do all events have to have the same format? Isn't it nice to have different formats for different sports/events? The rifle events are of the few where you do this, so I think the combined qualification + final scores should be kept.

[Richard H]

It's nice to have different formats if they add to the sport or the the possibility of fans enjoying it. If they don't then they need to be looked at.

[Bill Burkert]

The fact that Emmons received another medal in this his third Olympics, indicates his greatness.

Matt is not able to control the outcome of the match, particularly when another shooter is at the absolute top of his game. The Olympic records set by the Italian shooter indicate the kind of match which he was able to put together. Matt is only able to control his result. I'm wondering if Matt met his performance goal for this match?

[Dave IRL]

I would be wholly against changing the final format. Campriani coming in twelve points ahead of eighth place *should* have an advantage over them in the final! Look at sailing, where points are accumulated and then the medal match counts for double. That's a similar system. There is absolutely no reason to come in with a blank slate in the final. It would completely kill the sense of drama.

[Ted]

Matt is a great shooter that has many accomlishments to be proud of. He is continuing his Olympic quest. Here's my theory. Matt had a 0.0 eight years ago, 4.4 four years ago, 7.6 today. Four years from now he will have a 10.9 on his final shot! Go Matt go!!!!!!!

[Freepistol]

Matt is a great shooter that has many accomlishments to be proud of. He is continuing his Olympic quest. Here's my theory. Matt had a 0.0 eight years ago, 4.4 four years ago, 7.6 today. Four years from now he will have a 10.9 on his final shot! Go Matt go!!!!!!!

[EJ]

It's nice to have different formats if they add to the sport or the the possibility of fans enjoying it. If they don't then they need to be looked at.

and they don't? Have you seen any surveys/opinions suggesting this?

[Richard H]

Well EJ do you see the sport growing? Thats what the IOC looks at, not only participation but viewer ship too. So debating it with me is a waste. If you think the sport is doing fine as it is well then theres not much that can be debated.

To answer your question, obviously some that have the power to actually make the changes think they need to be changed. So that would trump a world wide survey.

Here's another thing if you went out on the street and survey 50 random people about Olympic shooting what do you think the response would be that you'd get, that is the real problem.

[EJ]

In what part of the world are we talking about? In America I'm guessing no, Asia, yes. How do you increase viewing (and participation) without actually showing it on TV/streams? But yes, I agree that ISSF's youtube channel has some depressing viewing numbers.
That's usually how the world works, but a survey/study (if it existed) always trumps someone's opinion when it comes down to facts, even someone in power. But that's a different discussion all together (it is one of the things wrong with today's society though).

What would the answer be if you did the same when it comes to water polo, most equestrian sports, canoe slalom, synchronized swimming, track cycling?

[Gary Dunning]

Bravo Matt! Winning any olympic medal is a superlative achievement far beyond the vast majority of competitors. In the context of life challenges and a futile effort to develop the sport in Minnesota, Matt's perspective is admirable.

Richard H is exactly on target re. growth (lack thereof), and interest in smallbore and air rifle competition. Existing olympic competition format was intended to stimulate visual interest and add drama. However, I've been unable to discover any shooting sports tv coverage.

Opportunity to experience international style smallbore and air rifle shooting is very limited vs water polo, kayaking and equitation. While track cycling is a small niche, bicycle enthusiasts are well aware that track bikes have become very much mainstream.

[Richard H]

In what part of the world are we talking about? In America I'm guessing no, Asia, yes. How do you increase viewing (and participation) without actually showing it on TV/streams? But yes, I agree that ISSF's youtube channel has some depressing viewing numbers.
That's usually how the world works, but a survey/study (if it existed) always trumps someone's opinion when it comes down to facts, even someone in power. But that's a different discussion all together (it is one of the things wrong with today's society though).

What would the answer be if you did the same when it comes to water polo, most equestrian sports, canoe slalom, synchronized swimming, track cycling?

Well It's getting hard to keep all these threads straight

The good news in many places streaming of Shooting events is available. I'm pretty sure this is one of the most streamed olympics yet. No qualifications aren't streamed but finals are. I really doubt streaming the qualifications would increase popularity, it might be nice if they did a little highlight and build up during the qualifications though and at least let everyone see that their countrymen/women were there.

The problem with a survey is you need to be on the map to do a true random survey, which is the most accurate. With international shooting you most likely have to ask people who know about it which most likely are involved in some capacity which really highly taints results. Te only thing you could do is take people who no nothing of the sport and do a focus group. I fear shooting wouldn't stand up well. Cause in reality the sport itself is a great participation activity but in and of itself is not much to watch. Therefore you need to make it exciting by adding elements to the final such as head to head match-ups, spectators like head to head match-ups, hence the reason its on of the most popular competition formats.

Your are correct with cycling everybody knows what is like to ride a bike so thats the big thing in cycling, we all no how hard it is to ride either fast, and far and how hard it is to do both.

Kayaking although not as popular as cycling but still many people understand paddling like in a canoe so again that is a plus, the other thing is its a race very simple to understand again its a head to head match up amongst a bunch of athletes. Very easy to understand and spectators can watch a race unfold, it doesn't need much explanation.

Water polo had lots of friends that played it some went on to the elite level but I never really got the sport.


Equestrian well hey its the rich peoples sport so I don't think it has any problems these are the same folk that sit on the IOC and other Federations.