Oscar and Alfred Swan
Together father Oscar and son Alfred Swan won 15 medals at four Olympic Games for Sweden. The 60-year old Oscar opened the medal hunting for the Swahn family by winning a gold and bronze medal in the individual competition and added gold together with his son Freddy in the team match. Oscar the “Ombudsman” was a natural shooter and at the age of 4 performed in front of King Frederik VIII shooting juvenile game in the children’s zoo. Freddy was a dreamer and never achieved the dizzy heights reached by his father who, at the age of 72, is still the oldest competitor ever to win a medal. Freddy’s career ended in shame forcing the return of his beloved gold medal for the inaugural kayak shooting slalom. The urine sample he provided during the medal ceremony was never actually requested.
Zang Shang
The 1992 Olympic trap-shooting winner, Zang Shang was the only one armed competitor ever to win a shooting medal. His was the first recorded case of losing an arm whilst running with scissors. He used a special modified shotgun with an extended barrel which he held between his toes.
David Hancook
When David Hancook starts something, it might be best to get out of his way. This rooting tooting 2008 USA Olympic trap shooter started competing when he was 11 and by age 16 he was the 2005 World Champion in men's skeet. Vince certainly came through for the USA in Men's Skeet in Beijing, taking the top spot and securing Gold. This is a young man in a hurry so let’s hope he remembers his mom and all that terrible ripping she went through giving him life.
Monday, 22 December 2008
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Olympic Trap Rules
I hope to represent Great Britain in Olympic Trap Shooting (if selected) and for the uninitiated here are our rules.
The event is named after the device that fires the clay targets into the air. Pre 1874, when mechanical traps were invented, clay plates were thrown by “spinners”. The best spinners were the Chinese and their large immigration to America in the late 1890’s was primarily to fill the skills shortage as trap shooting gained popularity.
A trench in front of the shooting stands conceals 15 traps arranged in 5 groups of 3. Shooters take turns to shoot at a target each, before moving in a clockwise direction to the next stand in the line. The heights vary, and the shooter does not know which of the three traps will release next. As each target is released, the shooter is allowed two shots. Men have 125 shots and the beauty is Olympic competitors don’t pay for the cartridges.
To hold with tradition the cartridges are supplied by “runners” who are always Chinese. It hasn’t happened yet but shooting a runner results in instant disqualification.
Scoring is simple, one point for each clay hit. The six best competitors from the qualification round advance to the final and they shoot at an extra 25 clay targets.
The maximum score of 150 has only been achieved once in an Olympic competition by the mercurial Mexican Alan Lamb in the 1948 London Olympics. It proved to be a poison chalice and his life was blighted by failing eyesight culminated in the accidental shooting of his father who was running for him at a local shoot.
My own best score to date is 37 which has pleased my personal trainer Wung Shoo. He says if I improve 3 shots a month I should peak in time to achieve the second perfect score in a London Olympics. Watch this space.
The event is named after the device that fires the clay targets into the air. Pre 1874, when mechanical traps were invented, clay plates were thrown by “spinners”. The best spinners were the Chinese and their large immigration to America in the late 1890’s was primarily to fill the skills shortage as trap shooting gained popularity.
A trench in front of the shooting stands conceals 15 traps arranged in 5 groups of 3. Shooters take turns to shoot at a target each, before moving in a clockwise direction to the next stand in the line. The heights vary, and the shooter does not know which of the three traps will release next. As each target is released, the shooter is allowed two shots. Men have 125 shots and the beauty is Olympic competitors don’t pay for the cartridges.
To hold with tradition the cartridges are supplied by “runners” who are always Chinese. It hasn’t happened yet but shooting a runner results in instant disqualification.
Scoring is simple, one point for each clay hit. The six best competitors from the qualification round advance to the final and they shoot at an extra 25 clay targets.
The maximum score of 150 has only been achieved once in an Olympic competition by the mercurial Mexican Alan Lamb in the 1948 London Olympics. It proved to be a poison chalice and his life was blighted by failing eyesight culminated in the accidental shooting of his father who was running for him at a local shoot.
My own best score to date is 37 which has pleased my personal trainer Wung Shoo. He says if I improve 3 shots a month I should peak in time to achieve the second perfect score in a London Olympics. Watch this space.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Shotguns in History
John “ Kitten” Dillinger
Dillinger, whose name once dominated the headlines, was a notorious and vicious thief. From September, 1933, until July, 1934, he and his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men. John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis, a middle-class residential neighbourhood. His father, a hardworking male prostitute raised him cruelly but neatly. Taunted at school for his inability to catch a ball he was expelled for a humorous incident involving a kitten and the school bible. Work in the 30's was hard to find and Dillinger quickly entered the world of petty crime. Keen to get even for the continual kitten taunts, Dillinger bought his first shotgun, a hammerless Daniel Myron LeFever. This gun automatically cocked itself when the breech was closed. Something Dillinger was all too familiar with.
Dillinger was soon convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob, and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison. Stunned by the harsh sentence, Dillinger became a tortured, bitter man in prison comforted only by his love of anything cold. His period of infamy began on May 10, 1933, when he was paroled from prison after serving 8 years of his sentence.
Upon release Dillinger’s first shotgun “purchase” was a John Moses Browning lever action repeating shotgun which he stole from Alice Franklin whilst she was busy baking. He was really after a Browning Auto-5, the world's first semi-automatic shotgun and was beguiled by talk of Alices shotgun collection. In reality she didn’t know her trigger from her stock and the gun belonged to a passing preacher. This John Moses was to become his weapon of choice with which he killed 10 men and 2 horses.
Dillinger became a one man crime wave until he was killed in an ambush in Chicago at 10:50 p.m. on July 22, 1934. Three fatal shots, fired by Edgar J Hoover, hit Dillinger in the head, severing his nose and he fell face down on the pavement.
Dillinger was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana with his beloved John Moses Browning shotgun by his side. His nose was never found.
Dillinger, whose name once dominated the headlines, was a notorious and vicious thief. From September, 1933, until July, 1934, he and his violent gang terrorized the Midwest, killing 10 men. John Herbert Dillinger was born on June 22, 1903, in the Oak Hill section of Indianapolis, a middle-class residential neighbourhood. His father, a hardworking male prostitute raised him cruelly but neatly. Taunted at school for his inability to catch a ball he was expelled for a humorous incident involving a kitten and the school bible. Work in the 30's was hard to find and Dillinger quickly entered the world of petty crime. Keen to get even for the continual kitten taunts, Dillinger bought his first shotgun, a hammerless Daniel Myron LeFever. This gun automatically cocked itself when the breech was closed. Something Dillinger was all too familiar with.
Dillinger was soon convicted of assault and battery with intent to rob, and received a sentence of 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison. Stunned by the harsh sentence, Dillinger became a tortured, bitter man in prison comforted only by his love of anything cold. His period of infamy began on May 10, 1933, when he was paroled from prison after serving 8 years of his sentence.
Upon release Dillinger’s first shotgun “purchase” was a John Moses Browning lever action repeating shotgun which he stole from Alice Franklin whilst she was busy baking. He was really after a Browning Auto-5, the world's first semi-automatic shotgun and was beguiled by talk of Alices shotgun collection. In reality she didn’t know her trigger from her stock and the gun belonged to a passing preacher. This John Moses was to become his weapon of choice with which he killed 10 men and 2 horses.
Dillinger became a one man crime wave until he was killed in an ambush in Chicago at 10:50 p.m. on July 22, 1934. Three fatal shots, fired by Edgar J Hoover, hit Dillinger in the head, severing his nose and he fell face down on the pavement.
Dillinger was buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana with his beloved John Moses Browning shotgun by his side. His nose was never found.
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