Edition: U.S. / Global

THE SEOUL OLYMPICS; The Games, From Archery to Yachting: Shooting

Published: September 11, 1988

Olympic shooting's two newest events are men's and women's air pistol competitions, bringing the total to 13. Though the various rifle, pistol and shotgun events have a larger following in Europe, Americans have done well over the years.

Perhaps the most competitive category in Seoul will be in the rifle arena. Competitors, who fire .22-caliber rifles at targets 50 meters away and air rifles at bull's-eyes 10 meters distant, are so well matched that competitors from any of 10 nations could win a given event. In the pistol events, shot at 10, 25, and 50 meters, East European and Soviet shooters are top-rankled. In the shotgun events, Italians are expected to do well.

A static sport, shooting has added finals in which several top competitors fire extra shots and points are added to the shooters' preliminary total. Because the finals are conducted in the most difficult stage or position with limited time for each shot, the rankings of the final competitors can change suddenly and drastically. These are the events: Men's English match. A competitor fires .22-caliber bullets from the prone position at targets 50 meters away. The 10-point ring measures slightly smaller than a dime. Web Wright 3d, 21 years old, and Glenn Dubis are two Americans with good chances.

Men's free rifle. Forty shots are taken in each of three positions: prone, standing and kneeling. Shot with the same equipment as the English match, this four-and-a-half-hour event is a test of endurance and mental toughness. The shootoff, 10 extra standing shots, for a possible extra 110 points, will most likely determine the winner. Dubis and another American, Dan Durben, are among those expected to pressure the 1984 gold medalist, Malcolm Cooper of Britain.

Women's standard rifle. This is like the men's three-position free-rifle event, but women fire 60 shots, and use a smaller rifle. Two Americans have a good chance: Wanda Jewell and Launi Meili.

Men's air rifle. Sixty shots from the standing position, with a .177-caliber pellet rifle, are fired from 10 meters at a target. A 597 is the world record, held by Sergei Ivanov of the Soviet Union, a double Olympic qualifier.

Women's air rifle. Forty shots, standing position, are taken at a 10-meter target Representing the United States will be Meili and 22-year-old Deena Wigger of Colorado Springs.

Men's running game. This is the only event in which telescopic sights are allowed. A boar-shaped target 50 meters distant, with a 10-ring bull's-eye on its shoulder, scoots across an opening 10 meters wide. Hungarian and Soviet shooters are favored. Men's free pistol. Shooting at 50 meters with a .22-caliber long-barreled pistol held in one hand, competitors must factor in wind and mirage as rifle shooters do, and hit a ring two inches wide. Sixty shots make up the course, which lasts two and a half hours. The two oldest American shooters on this Olympic team, 50-year-old Darius Young and 52-year-old Don Nygord, will face a strong field from East Germany and the Soviet Union.

Men's rapid fire pistol. Shooting with a .22-caliber pistol at 25 meters, competitors see five targets simultaneously, and fire one shot per target in time limits of eight, six and four seconds. Rolf Schumann of East Germany is the favorite.

Women's sport pistol. Fire at 25 meters, the competition has two stages: 30 shots in the slow-fire section and 30 shots in the duel rapid-fire section. In the slow fire, there is one minute per shot; in the rapid fire, three seconds for five shots.

Men's and women's air pistol. Both events (60 shots for men, 40 for women) are new for 1988. Using precision air pistols, competitors fire .177-caliber pellets at bull's-eyes (the 10-point ring measures about half an inch) 10 meters away.

Trap. In both the shotgun events, competitors use 12-gauge shotguns to hit clay targets traveling about 100 miles an hour.

Skeet. Competitors shoot from eight positions arranged in a semicircle. Targets zip out of two houses on the shooter's left and right sides at about 900 miles an hour.