Coverage of Olympic Shooting Events

[psyopspec]

I'm probably not the only one that's been disappointed by the lack of television coverage of Olympic competitive shooting. However, I was pleased to find this little trove of videos on nbc.com. Athlete profiles, coverage, competition results - all dedicated to the shooting sports. Enjoy!

http://www.nbcolympics.com/shooting/index.html

 

[kentucky_Dave]

Thanks For The Link

 

[bogie]

Opportunity: Call the network AND your local stations, and let them know that you want to see more.

Heck, call the newspapers, and ask them why the TV folks aren't showing it... Couldn't be any sort of rivalry going on there, could there?

 

[geim druth]

MSNBC does coverage of more sports than are shown on NBC, I'm hoping to catch some shooting on that channel.

I noticed that at least 4 nations choose shooters as their flag-bearers for the opening ceremonies.

 

[Smokey Joe]

Historical...

I understand that Baron Coubertin, the originator of the modern Olympics, was himself a pistol competitor.

(Can't find any documentation of that, though.)

 

[Owen Sparks]

It is all about gymnastics. Get used to it.

 

[.38 Special]

It looks as though the USA network is carrying some shooting events.

 

[Solo Flyer]

I understand that Baron Coubertin, the originator of the modern Olympics, was himself a pistol competitor.

Great column here about the Baron and then Lt. George Patton ,a overlooked hero in the first Pentathlon in 1912.

http://www.realclearsports.com/articles/2008/07/modern_pentathlon_a_sport_for.html

 

[bogie]

Google Patton and Bonus Army...

 

[Mr White]

I know we all love guns, but have you ever sat and watched a shooting event? The shooting sports, other than possibly some shotgun events, are pretty boring to watch. Shooting is definitely better as a participant sport.

 

[plexreticle]

Watching people shoot is right up there with watching curling and golf.

If you have trouble sleeping it will cure it.

 

[VARifleman]

I know we all love guns, but have you ever sat and watched a shooting event? The shooting sports, other than possibly some shotgun events, are pretty boring to watch. Shooting is definitely better as a participant sport.

Not with the advent of electronic scoring. It is quite exciting to see the faces of the athletes in finals as they go up and down with each tenth of a point difference.

 

[cpttango30]

You can go to http://www.msnbc.com/ and click on Olympics on the left hand side then look down the left hand side of teh screen for shooting if it has a little red flag with LIVE in it then you can watch live video. I watched the live Men's trap finals last night at 3am.

 

[Vibe]

Doesn't look like the USA is close to winning any medals in the sport though. The anti-gun sentiment showing through?

 

[bobbarker]

I don't really think Anti-Gun has anything to do with the event. Doesn't matter if you only have 10 people in the US who love shooting, and are good at it. If they're in the olympics, then they're the ones competing, ya know? Unless some anti's wormed their way in, in a diabolical plot to throw the event, and show that shooting isn't as great as we all think. No, I just think that we're not doing so hot. Which is kind of sad, if you think about it. Some of the best snipers in the world are on the US Military Competitive Shooting Team, but, try getting those guys time away from work to be in the olympics. It used to happen, but, no more.

 

[VARifleman]

Doesn't look like the USA is close to winning any medals in the sport though. The anti-gun sentiment showing through?

HAHA...yeah right...wait till Matt Emmons and Kim Rhode come up to bat.

 

[Vibe]

I don't really think Anti-Gun has anything to do with the event. Doesn't matter if you only have 10 people in the US who love shooting, and are good at it. If they're in the olympics, then they're the ones competing, ya know?

Well that is sort of the point as to WHY we would "only have 10 people" who love shooting and are good at it. Funny how you try to disagree with the point and support it at the same time.

 

[AndyC]

Funny, I had the same conversation with my wife 2 days ago, and I pointed out that shooting is hardly a spectator-sport. Perhaps they should make sudden death, man vs man, Steel Challenge an Olympic sport

 

[VARifleman]

Well that is sort of the point as to WHY we would "only have 10 people" who love shooting and are good at it. Funny how you try to disagree with the point and support it at the same time.

There can only be 2 spots per country per event for the shooting sports. There are 28 possible spots per country, the USA got 24. Also, the competition to get on that team is close and difficult. So I don't know where the heck you get the idea that there are very few top quality USA shooters, or that we got very few spots, or that we don't stand a chance at getting medals. Jamie Beyerle got 4th place in Women's Air, following bronze by 1.1 points. Not a poor performance by any standards.

 

[Knotthead]

MSNBC does coverage of more sports than are shown on NBC...

Coverage is also being provided at times on CNBC,the USA network, and Oxygen. At this moment, shooting is listed on the segment being shown on MSNBC.

 

[CBS220]

Watching people shoot is right up there with watching curling and golf.

If you have trouble sleeping it will cure it.

Definitely, especially since it seems most olympic shooting is of the airgun pistol on a stationary target or trap type... that is to say, even less enjoyable than curling and golf to watch.

Now, watching Miculek shoot a round... that's pretty entertaining! There's lots of movement and metal falling.

This, not so much.

 

[Buck Nekkid]

We have some of world's best shooters! Our men's international trap team (mostly made up of members of the Army Marksmanship Unit) is favored.

International Olympic Shooting is a whole other world. Olympic Trap, Olympic Skeet, air rifle and pistol and small bore rifle and pistol are so hard that I would challenge anyone to even attempt to compete.

The air rifle target, for example, is the size of a Bayer Asprin! To get a score of 10 on it you need to be able to hit a center the size of a period (.)!

 

[General Geoff]

Olympic shooting events tend to favour pure accuracy over practicality. Nothing wrong with that, just pointing that out..

 

[misANTHrope]

So what we really need is to get practical shooting on as an Olympic sport, huh?

 

[General Geoff]

I'd be in favour of that.


Question then would be, would we have to disallow all active-duty military and law enforcement persons from participating, since you could successfully argue that they're professionals in that sport?