Shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Mixed 300 metre free rifle, three positions

Shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics – 300 metre free rifle at the Games of the XX Olympiad
Romanian stamp commemorating shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Venue	Schießanlage
Date	September 2, 1972
Competitors	33 from 20 nations
Winning score	1155
Medalists
Lones Wigger  United States Boris Melnik  Soviet Union Lajos Papp  Hungary
← 1968

Shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Rifle
300 m free rifle three positions	mixed
50 m rifle prone	mixed
50 m rifle three positions	mixed
Pistol
50 m pistol	mixed
25 m rapid fire pistol	mixed
Shotgun
Trap	mixed
Skeet	mixed
Running target
50 m running target	mixed
v t e

The mixed 300 m rifle three positions was an event at the 1972 Summer Olympics. This was the final time that free rifle was contested at the Olympics. Soviet shooter Boris Melnik was leading 1155 to 1154 when the unofficial scores were posted, but the official scoring brought American Lones Wigger up to 1155; Wigger won the tie breaker with a better score on the last string fired kneeling, 97, versus 96 for Melnik.^[1] It was the third consecutive victory in the event for the United States; the Soviet Union had taken at least one medal each of the six times it competed before the event was discontinued after 1972. Lajos Papp of Hungary took bronze.

This was the 11th appearance of the 300 metre three-positions rifle event, which was held 11 times between 1900 and 1972.^[2][3] Three of the top 10 shooters from 1964 returned: silver medalist Valentin Kornev of the Soviet Union, eighth-place finisher Petre Șandor of Romania, and tenth-place finisher Lajos Papp of Hungary. Kornev was the reigning (1970) world champion.^[4]

Cuba, North Korea, Paraguay, and West Germany each made its debut in the event. Finland, Sweden, and the United States each made their 10th appearance, tied for most of all nations.

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each position (prone, standing, and kneeling). Shots were fired in series of 10. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. Thus, the maximum score possible was 1200 points. Any rifle could be used. All ties were broken by the best score on the final string of kneeling, if still tied the best score on the final string of standing, followed by prone.^[4]

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

World record	Gary Anderson (USA)	1157	Mexico City, Mexico	23 October 1968
Olympic record	Gary Anderson (USA)	1157	Mexico City, Mexico	23 October 1968

No new world or Olympic records were set during the competition.

All times are Central European Time (UTC+1)

Rank	Shooter	Nation	Position	Series				Total	Score
				1	2	3	4
	Lones Wigger	United States	Prone	97	99	98	100	394	1155
			Standing	95	96	93	95	379
			Kneeling	95	95	95	97	382
	Boris Melnik	Soviet Union	Prone	98	98	99	99	394	1155
			Standing	93	94	95	92	374
			Kneeling	93	99	99	96	387
	Lajos Papp	Hungary	Prone	100	99	99	96	394	1149
			Standing	90	92	89	93	364
			Kneeling	99	94	99	99	391
4	Uto Wunderlich	East Germany	Prone	99	98	97	99	393	1149
			Standing	91	93	90	94	368
			Kneeling	97	97	96	98	388
5	Karel Bulan	Czechoslovakia	Prone	98	99	99	98	394	1146
			Standing	92	94	92	92	370
			Kneeling	94	96	94	98	382
6	Jaakko Minkkinen	Finland	Prone	100	99	100	97	396	1146
			Standing	89	91	96	88	364
			Kneeling	96	98	98	94	386
7	Lanny Bassham	United States	Prone	98	96	97	98	389	1144
			Standing	92	94	89	93	368
			Kneeling	96	96	97	98	387
8	Valentin Kornev	Soviet Union	Prone	97	97	98	99	391	1143
			Standing	89	92	93	91	365
			Kneeling	96	99	96	96	387
9	Werner Lippoldt	East Germany	Prone	98	97	97	95	387	1141
			Standing	93	91	91	90	365
			Kneeling	95	98	97	99	389
10	Martin Truttmann	Switzerland	Prone	100	98	95	97	390	1141
			Standing	95	90	92	89	366
			Kneeling	99	98	95	93	385
11	Béla Nagy	Hungary	Prone	100	97	99	98	394	1140
			Standing	93	84	89	92	358
			Kneeling	99	95	98	96	388
12	Malcolm Cooper	Great Britain	Prone	97	99	99	96	391	1139
			Standing	91	91	93	86	361
			Kneeling	97	97	97	96	387
13	Miguel Valdes	Cuba	Prone	97	100	100	97	394	1139
			Standing	90	89	96	94	369
			Kneeling	94	97	91	94	376
14	Rudolf Pojer	Czechoslovakia	Prone	100	99	99	99	397	1138
			Standing	89	90	87	90	356
			Kneeling	94	97	96	98	385
15	Li Yun-hae	North Korea	Prone	99	98	99	95	391	1137
			Standing	89	93	95	96	373
			Kneeling	94	91	95	93	373
16	Andrzej Sieledcow	Poland	Prone	97	95	97	97	386	1135
			Standing	90	92	92	95	369
			Kneeling	93	89	99	99	380
17	Ri Ho-jun	North Korea	Prone	98	99	98	97	392	1133
			Standing	90	90	91	90	361
			Kneeling	96	92	96	96	380
18	Helge Anshushaug	Norway	Prone	96	98	98	95	387	1132
			Standing	85	92	94	86	357
			Kneeling	99	95	97	97	388
19	Eugeniusz Pędzisz	Poland	Prone	98	100	97	97	392	1131
			Standing	92	87	94	90	363
			Kneeling	92	94	94	96	376
20	Dirk Fudickar	West Germany	Prone	96	96	98	98	388	1131
			Standing	90	88	92	92	362
			Kneeling	95	98	95	93	381
21	Petre Șandor	Romania	Prone	95	97	96	97	385	1127
			Standing	94	89	85	91	359
			Kneeling	93	98	97	95	383
22	Andreas Beyeler	Switzerland	Prone	99	95	94	97	385	1126
			Standing	85	93	90	91	359
			Kneeling	93	95	97	97	382
23	Sven Johansson	Sweden	Prone	96	99	98	96	389	1126
			Standing	86	90	92	91	359
			Kneeling	98	94	91	95	378
24	Vagn Andersen	Denmark	Prone	99	98	98	98	393	1125
			Standing	88	88	92	93	361
			Kneeling	93	91	93	94	371
25	Osmo Ala-Honkola	Finland	Prone	97	99	97	98	391	1121
			Standing	85	88	94	90	357
			Kneeling	94	97	91	91	373
26	Per Weichel	Denmark	Prone	94	92	92	95	373	1114
			Standing	90	92	90	94	366
			Kneeling	94	93	92	96	375
27	Bjørn Bakken	Norway	Prone	97	93	95	94	379	1112
			Standing	90	88	93	90	361
			Kneeling	91	93	98	90	372
28	Eugen Satală	Romania	Prone	96	95	97	94	382	1102
			Standing	91	89	85	86	351
			Kneeling	92	90	94	93	369
29	Olegario Vázquez Raña	Mexico	Prone	95	98	96	93	382	1100
			Standing	81	86	88	87	342
			Kneeling	93	94	96	93	376
30	Wu Tao-yan	Republic of China	Prone	96	96	96	97	385	1085
			Standing	81	87	85	82	335
			Kneeling	94	90	92	89	365
31	Jesús Elizondo	Mexico	Prone	100	97	98	100	395	1078
			Standing	72	78	87	82	319
			Kneeling	87	91	90	96	364
32	Yondonjamtsyn Batsükh	Mongolia	Prone	97	91	96	90	374	1067
			Standing	82	83	88	79	332
			Kneeling	93	91	87	90	361
33	Reinaldo Ramírez	Paraguay	Prone	96	93	89	92	370	1030
			Standing	75	88	85	74	322
			Kneeling	85	84	85	84	338
—	Jorge di Giandoménico	Argentina	Prone						DNS
			Standing
			Kneeling
—	Alvaro Cleopatofsky	Colombia	Prone						DNS
			Standing
			Kneeling
—	Emilian Vergov	Bulgaria	Prone						DNS
			Standing
			Kneeling

• Official report pg. 232