Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's trap

The men's individual trap shooting competition was one of 15 shooting sports events on the Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme.[1] It was held from 8 to 11 July.[2] Each nation could enter up to 12 shooters.[3] There were 61 competitors from 8 nations.[2] Canada took the top two spots, with Walter Ewing earning gold and George Beattie silver. There were two bronze medals awarded after Alexander Maunder of Great Britain and Anastasios Metaxas of Greece tied for third place. The medals were the first in the event for all three nations (France had swept the medals in 1900). Ewing also received Lord Westbury's Cup as a challenge prize.[2]

Men's trap
at the Games of the IV Olympiad
British team
VenueUxendon Shooting School Club
Dates8–9 July (first round)
9 July (second round
11 July (final round)
Competitors61 from 8 nations
Winning score72 OR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Walter Ewing  Canada
2nd place, silver medalist(s) George Beattie  Canada
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Alexander Maunder  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Anastasios Metaxas  Greece
← 1900
1912 →

The weather was bad, with extreme rain and wind as well as low light.[2]

Background

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This was the second appearance of what would become standardised as the men's ISSF Olympic trap event. The event was held at every Summer Olympics from 1896 to 1924 (except 1904, when no shooting events were held) and from 1952 to 2016; it was open to women from 1968 to 1996.[4][2]

Belgium, Canada, Finland, Greece, the Netherlands, and Sweden each made their debut in the event. France and Great Britain both made their second appearance, having competed at the prior edition of the event in 1900.

Competition format

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Shooting was conducted in three rounds, with each shooter firing at 30 clay birds in the first round, 20 in the second, and 30 in the third. In the first and second rounds, and for 20 of the birds in the third round, the shooting was on "Team System," meaning that the shooter knew which trap the bird would come from but not the angle; for the final 10 birds of the third round, the shooting was on the "Single Fire" system, with unknown traps and angles.[5] Eliminations took place after each round. These eliminations were supposed to remove half of the competitors between the first and second rounds, and half the remaining between the second and third;[5] but the number of finalists was much greater than one-quarter the number of competitors.

28 shooters advanced to the final round, though 7 did not finish it. The highest possible aggregate score was 80 points.

Records

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Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.

World record
Olympic record New format

Walter Ewing set the initial Olympic record for the 80-shot event with 72 points.

Schedule

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Date Time Round
Wednesday 8 July 1908 First round
Thursday, 9 July 1908 First round, continued
Second round
Saturday, 11 July 1908 Final round

Results

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The Official Report gives a list of competitors,[6] but gives scores only for those reaching the final round.[7]

Canada objected to the first day of scores and was permitted to re-shoot. John Postans of Great Britain withdrew, with no recorded reason but likely because of that decision; Postans had been tied with Charles Palmer and Bob Hutton for the lead at 23, but Canadian Walter Ewing shot a 27 in the re-shoot.[2]

Rank Shooter Nation Score
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total
  Walter Ewing   Canada 27 18 27 72
  George Beattie   Canada 21 17 22 60
  Alexander Maunder   Great Britain 21 14 22 57
Anastasios Metaxas   Greece[8] 21 14 22 57
5 Charles Palmer   Great Britain 23 12 20 55
Arthur Westover   Canada 21 12 22 55
7 Mylie Fletcher   Canada 22 9 22 53
Bob Hutton   Great Britain 23 10 20 53
John Wilson   Netherlands 20 13 20 53
10 Frederic Moore   Great Britain 21 11 20 52
11 George Whitaker   Great Britain 18 9 24 51
12 David McMackon   Canada 19 14 17 50
John Pike   Great Britain 22 12 16 50
14 Cornelis Viruly   Netherlands 18 13 17 48
15 Eduardus van Voorst tot Voorst   Netherlands 19 13 15 47
Franciscus van Voorst tot Voorst   Netherlands 18 14 15 47
17 Henry Creasey   Great Britain 22 9 15 46
Percy Easte   Great Britain 18 11 17 46
19 Gerald Merlin   Great Britain 18 10 17 45
20 William Morris   Great Britain 10 12 22 44
George Vivian   Canada 16 10 18 44
22 Reindert de Favauge   Netherlands 18 11 29
23 Émile Béjot   France 18 10 28
24 John Butt   Great Britain 15 11 26
25 Alfred Swahn   Sweden 13 9 22
26 Jacob Laan   Netherlands 13 8 21
27 Frank Parker   Canada 14 5 19
Edward Benedicks   Sweden 13 6 19
AC John Postans   Great Britain 23[2] Withdrew DNA 23
M. Bucquet   France Unknown DNA
C. A. A. Dudok de Wit   Netherlands Unknown DNA
E. Fesingher   Belgium Unknown DNA
Count de Fontenay   France Unknown DNA
A. Fleury   France Unknown DNA
L. Gernaert   Belgium Unknown DNA
E. Herrmann   Belgium Unknown DNA
R. W. Huber   Finland Unknown DNA
Charles de Jaubert   France Unknown DNA
Arvid Knöppel   Sweden Unknown DNA
G. A. Knöppel   Sweden Unknown DNA
P. Lefébure   France Unknown DNA
P. Levé   France Unknown DNA
A. G. E. Ljungberg   Sweden Unknown DNA
A. F. Londen   Finland Unknown DNA
P. L. Lucassen   Netherlands Unknown DNA
L. de Lunden   Belgium Unknown DNA
Frangiskos Mavrommatis   Greece Unknown DNA
C. N. J. Moltzer   Netherlands Unknown DNA
Georgios Orphanidis   Greece Unknown DNA
Rudolph van Pallandt   Netherlands Unknown DNA
H. L. R. Quersin   Belgium Unknown DNA
Baron A. de Roest d'Alkemade   Belgium Unknown DNA
Ernst Rosell   Sweden Unknown DNA
Count S. de Rouville   France Unknown DNA
E. Soufart   Belgium Unknown DNA
Réginald Storms   Belgium Unknown DNA
Oscar Swahn   Sweden Unknown DNA
K. Tazer   Finland Unknown DNA
L. Van Tilt   Belgium Unknown DNA
G. J. Van der Vleit   Netherlands Unknown DNA
P. W. Waller   Netherlands Unknown DNA

References

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  1. ^ "Shooting at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's Trap". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Trap, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  3. ^ Official Report, p. 39.
  4. ^ "Historical Results". issf-sports.org. International Shooting Sport Federation. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b Official Report, p. 275
  6. ^ Official Report, p. 278.
  7. ^ Official Report, pp. 280–81.
  8. ^ Metaxas is generally credited with a bronze medal; no tie-breaker was held. The 1908 official report lists Metaxas as having tied with Maunder and assigns bronze medals to each. However, Metaxas does not appear in the IOC medal database, which lists only Maunder as sole bronze medalist. Some sources follow this database.

Sources

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  • Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
  • De Wael, Herman (2001). "Shooting 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 11 May 2006.