Shooting factbox for Athens 2004

ATHENS, July 12 (Reuters) -- Factbox on shooting at the August 13-29 Athens Olympics:

HISTORY

Of the nine sports represented at the first modern Olympics in 1896 in Athens, shooting had the highest number of participants.

Four years later, at the Paris Games, live pigeons were used as moving targets, reminiscent of the dove-shooting contests the ancient Greeks held in honour of their gods. It was the only time in Olympic history that animals were deliberately killed.

Unlike in most Olympic sports, competitors cover a huge age range. At the Barcelona Games in 1992, Konstantin Lukashyk from the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States who won gold in the men's 50-metre pistol was 17 while the runner-up, Swede Ragnar Skanaker, was 58.

Women began participating in shooting competitions at the Olympics in 1968 but in Athens three events -- the 50m rifle prone, 10m running target and 25m rapid fire pistol -- will be for men only.

EVENTS

Men: 10 events:

50m rifle three positions (prone, standing, kneeling); 50m rifle prone; 10m air rifle; 50m pistol; 25m rapid fire pistol; 10m air pistol; 10m running target; Trap (shotgun); Double Trap (shotgun); Skeet (shotgun)

Women: Seven events:

50m rifle three positions (prone, standing, kneeling); 10m air rifle; 25m pistol; 10m air pistol; Trap (shotgun); Double Trap (shotgun); Skeet (shotgun)

In the pistol event, men will shoot from a 50m range and women from a 25m range.

2000 CHAMPIONS

Men

50m rifle three positions: Rajmond Debevec (Slovenia)

50m rifle prone: Jonas Edman (Sweden)

10m air rifle: Cai Yalin (China)

50m air pistol: Tanyu Kiriakov (Bulgaria)

25m rapid fire pistol: Serguei Alifirenko (Russia)

10m air pistol: Franck Dumoulin (France)

10m running target: Yang Ling (China)

Trap: Michael Diamond (Australia)

Double trap: Richard Faulds (Britain)

Skeet: Mykola Milchev (Ukraine)

Women

50m rifle three positions: Renata Mauer-Rozanska (Poland)

10m air rifle: Nancy Johnson (United States)

25m pistol: Maria Grozdeva (Bulgaria)

10m air pistol: Tao Luna (China)

Trap: Daina Gudzineviciute (Lithuania)

Double Trap: Pia Hansen (Sweden)

Skeet: Zemfira Meftakhetdinova (Azerbaijan)

OLYMPIC PROGRAMME (FINALS)

August 14 - men's 10m air pistol

<_TABLE><2>

women's 10m air rifle

August 15 - men's trap

women's 10m air pistol

August 16 - women's trap

men's 10m air rifle

August 17 - men's 50m pistol

men's double trap

August 18 - women's double trap

women's 25m pistol

August 19 - men's 10m running target

women's skeet

August 20 - women's 50m rifle three positions

men's 50m rifle prone

August 21 - men's rapid fire pistol

August 22 - men's 50m rifle three positions

men's skeet

VENUE

Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre, southeast Athens, with

facilities for 2,093 spectators.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

www.issf-shooting.org

Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.