Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics
At the 1900 Summer Olympics, 9 shooting events were included. Many other shooting events were featured in Paris at about the same time, but only 9 events are considered Olympic by the International Olympic Committee. The competitions were held from August 3, 1900, to August 5, 1900.
Competitors in these events had to kill as many live pigeons as possible. Birds were released one at a time from 'traps' in front of the shooters; winners were determined by whoever shot the most birds out of the sky. A shooter was eliminated once they missed two birds. Nearly 400 birds were killed. A prize purse of up to 20,000 Francs was awarded to the winners, though the top four finishers agreed to split the winnings. This was the first and only time in Olympic history when animals were killed on purpose. Animal rights campaigns were mounted to stop live shooting; in 1902 bans came into force in the United States leading to the introduction of clay pigeons.
The following results are not included in the official IOC Olympic results list:
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