Competitive shooter Roe Reynolds (Photo: USA Shooting/Facebook)
The International Olympic Committee has dropped three men’s shooting events from the Tokyo 2020 lineup in an effort to make the games “more youthful, more urban” and more inclusive of women.
The Committee announced last Friday that men’s double trap, 50m rifle prone, and 50m pistol will be replaced by events in air rifle, trap, and air shooting, which will be open to competitors of any gender.
IOC President Thomas Bach said in a statement, “I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women.”
The announcement answered an enduring question as to how Olympic shooting events would contribute to gender equality and introduce a more urban focus. Last year, USA Shooting recommended changes that would have supported a Mixed Sport Pistol event, a Mixed Prone Team event, and changes in Double Trap, but not the cancellation of any events.
David Johnson, Interim CEO of USA Shooting, added that “all Olympic sports need to review, change and adapt their event program to fulfill the changing needs of sport participation, television viewership and spectator influence.”
The subsequent decision to nix the three men’s events has angered former Olympians. Slovenian Olympic medalist Rajmond Debevec who told ESPN that he would have accepted the changes more readily had the IOC approved them democratically.
“It should be voted and adopted in the general assembly, but this decision was kept secret,” Debevec said.
Marco Innocenti, a silver medalist in Double Trap at the 2016 Olympics, also opposed the move. “In Italy we have been protesting this decision ever since we heard last year that double trap was likely to be removed from the Olympics,” Innocenti told ESPN.
SEE ALSO: Olympic Shooters Ignored, ‘Stigmatized’ Despite Winning More Golds than Wrestlers, Divers, Gymnasts
“Unlike in pistol or rifle you can’t change between shotgun events. It takes many years to develop an expertise in shotgun shooting. Perhaps the younger players could adapt to the change because they are still young. But I have been shooting double trap for more than twenty years. It’s not something I can do.”
These may not be the only changes for competitive shooters in years to come. In February, 2016, the IOC proposed scrapping bullets, and replacing them with lasers. The reasoning was credited to the fact that lasers are more easily visible and television-friendly.
The axing of the three men’s events is part of an effort that will double the number of mixed gender competitions. Of the participants in the Tokyo 2020 games, 48.8% are set to be women. Canoe, rowing, and weightlifting events are also being altered to facilitate gender balance.
Efforts to update the Olympics have also included more urban events, adding 3×3 Basketball to Tokyo 2020, and Breakdance and Roller Sports to the Summer Youth Olympics in 2018.
Well, making events more ‘urban’ makes a bizarre sort of sense. After all, where are most shootings done? And I assume the events will be at night in apartments or fast-foodies.
Japan is very anti-gun except where making money is concerned. They build rifles and shotguns for most US gun companies, all of which I refuse to buy.
What a bunch of ash-holes! Nothing can be more individual than shooting. It’s all about skill. Gender has no place. You can either shoot or not. Gender ain’t got anything to do with it. To do this in a country that has ‘severe gun laws’ is as silly as it gets.
PS
Japan has traditionally had it’s own unique view of a woman’s place.
Thomas Bach should wipe that brown smudge off his nose .
Like the previous person said, I am glad to be old and won’t have to put up with this political correctness much longer. When they delete “manly” sports and add breakdancing……………! How can breakdancing even be judged? Maybe who spends the most time on their backs or who can move the best with their pants down around their knees? I give up! It won’t be on my TV.
I am glad that I live in the countryside. I am glad I got rid of my lobotimizer (TV) ten years ago. Now I can have intelligent conversations with those who don’t have the PSD (Progressive Scarecrow Disease) instead of being brainwashed with propaganda. .
More urban? Does this mean they have to use firearms stolen from other competitors, and shoot from a moving car?
When the first breath was , “more urban” and the second breath was, “females”, I knew the third breath was being held in to keep from saying, “Global small arms treaty.”
More ‘urban’? OK… blindfolded traffic dodging, using ( noiseless) electric cars…
Breakdancing while firing a Mac 10 sideways, with no barriers between the gallery and press….
Grand Theft Auto video game playing, with real cars and guns….
Keep ‘curling’ event, but have the ‘rock’ contain an IED….
The total insanity of the UN and IOC, and the threat of Progressives worldwide, just sickens me.
So will the “urban” events mean firing whilst holding the gun sideways?
Another blatant attempt by the world \”progressives\” to eliminate firearms and replace them with air guns, with the final solution of removal of all personal weapons worldwide. The Global Gun Control agreement put forth and passed in the United Nations is in place everywhere but here, thanks to our Republican Senators blocking the U.S. ratification. Disguised as anti-trafficking for firearms, it includes banning of civilian ownership by all nations. Let\’s hope Trump makes it go away during his term.
In my trap shooting group there are a number of women, and some are better at it than the men..In the high-power league there are at least 15 to 20% women. What’s the problem? ? ?
Another neagative against the USA shooting team that dominates the competition due to our Constitution and the freedoms we have which allow us to defend ourselves against Government control of our lives.
IT’S COMING – The elimination of Gold, Silver and Bronze medals in favor of “Participation Awards” for everyone.
No, it will be FIAT AWARDS made of paper, as the price of gold and silver are too high. Or Bitcoin medals hahaha hell I’ve never even seen gold. now I’m sad ;(
Double trap is a youthful and gender neutral sport. I am in a skeet and trap club and there are women and kids doing both.
Well, making events more ‘urban’ makes a bizarre sort of sense. After all, where are most shootings done? And I assume the events will be at night in apartments or fast-foodies.
Japan is very anti-gun except where making money is concerned. They build rifles and shotguns for most US gun companies, all of which I refuse to buy.
Good on ya, still don’t know why US gunowners buy crap guns from anti gun countries or countries that hate us such as Moslem Turkey or China/Russia. Screw em.
The Olympic committee must be run by liberal, feel-good morons who don’t want to offend anyone and anything in order to stay relevant. Fuck the Olympics. It has turned into a political celebration, rather than a celebration of competition, strength, grace and fortitude.
Seriously, its time to CAN the olympics period…. Agree’d when the Berlin wall fell, the olympics became irrelevant…. Let the individual sports venture on their own under their own organizations and their own money…
The Olympics should be modeled on the Best Ranger Competition. Most of the current events are simply not interesting to me. We need more shooting events, not fewer.
How about you change the shooting events to handguns and you have to hold the gun sideways?
haha..good idea. Since they want to be more urban. Whatever the hell that means.
More urban and inclusive? Ok, how about this sport. Women will be made to fend off a potential rapist. They are not allowed to use anything except pepper spray which must be retrieved from the bottom a 25 pound, fully loaded handbag after the attack has begun. And, being generous, they have 10 minutes (the time it takes for the cops to arrive) to ‘survive’ the assault without having their clothes removed or losing consciousness. Seriously!? Or we could just have a break-dancing contest. Oh, wait…..
More urban? Are they going to add a drive-by shooting event?
Maybe you think it’s easy to fire your gat wildly while hanging out the passenger side of your best friend’s ride.
More urban? The Olympics has lost most of its credibility because the IOC has for years been more worried about pandering to ridiculous kiddie games than in keeping the original intent of the Olympics alive. The Olympic Games consisted of events that showcased skills needed to survive in real world situations, such as wrestling, running, weightlifting, throwing (javelin, discus, hammer, etc.) and shooting (archery at first). Can anyone please explain to me how games like snowboarding, figure skating, beach volleyball and table tennis have anything to do with skills needed to survive in either the ancient or modern worlds, which was and should remain the sole focus of Olympic competition?
For the real anti-gun crowd, the Olympics should include a SWAT gear competition: How long does it take for the SWAT team to assemble, gear up, and show up to the scene of the crime looking tacti-cool???
LMAO – In the interest of making the formerly well-regarded olympics “more urban”, shouldn’t they be offering MORE firearms events, complete with “urban-relevant scoring” criteria? Events such as:
– Non-Sighted Target shooting over a convenience store counter (Eyes must not have a view of target during each shot, which is performed in an offset position)
– Impact-Progression, where shooter must use previous holes as basis for subsequent shots, without using any other sight mechanism (including laser). Contestants judged by lowest time to hit 6″ round circle; in event of a tie, number of shots actually hitting the circle
– For the artistic (I believe this could rival Figure Skating and that dance thing with the ribbons), Drinking Hysterics, judged with a points system for creatively drinking a Schlitz 40oz while maintaining a minimum 5% hit ratio on a Biggy Smallz size target. Finals will advance to Purpal Drank, and Tupac-sized targets.
Contestants of all events receive extra points for number of anti-white racial insults and profanities
I’m almost looking forward to these exciting, youthful, urban changes. Anyone else?
Sharks must be allowed if they are going to be shooting lasers.
Thank God I’m old. I won’t have to live long enough to see much more of this Political Correctness crap.
Soon to come: 3 person drive by shootings and non gender specific suicide bombing.
I won’t be watching anymore. The bias against males and shooting is evident. If they wanted to institute more in the way of urban living perhaps they should have renamed a shooting event “drive-by shooting”.
Breakdancing? Perhaps 2024 will include rapping….
3×3 basketball? Fine – is that replacing ‘normal’ basketball? why would we possible need both?
Re: making shooting sports more gender equal, great. Just make all the sports gender-neutral – open to men, women, and people who declare any other gender. No differences in scoring, targets, equipment. Just step up to the line and do your best. Done.
Re: more relevant to urban and youth, great. But they missed the mark here. How about a urban biathalon – instead of skis and .22 target rifles, the competitors have a Hi-Point 9mm, and have to clear obstacles like running through the door of a 7-11, jump the counter, grab cash from a closed drawer, fire the whole mag at multiple targets at about 2 yards distance – you have to miss every shot, and you have to hold the gun sideways – then the event ends with a 50-yard dash back over the counter, out the doors, and running around trash cans. OH – and all this while the official Olympic uniform is shorts that are 8″ too big around the competitor’s waist , and you cannot wear a belt or anything else to hold them up.
LOVE IT! I would add “speed texting” to the Olympics also
extra credit for “speed texting while driving”…
Better yet…just hand all “athletes” a fool’s gold medal (participation trophy) at the opening ceremony and be done with it? Why waste valuable network prime time when we could all be watching the latest Survivor or Voice episodes? Sad!
If it can’t be objectively scored and needs a panel of judges, it is not a sport, period. Football, baseball, tennis, hockey,soccer, heck even bowling could be a sport, as the winners and loser are clear to all who are watching. We shouldn’t need a corrupt elite telling us who the winner is.
The rest are simply activities, including the popular Ice Dancing/Skating and Gymnastics. I’m not criticizing the people involved, just saying these athletic pursuits are not SPORTS.
Heck,what do I know, I’m just a white conservative, heterosexual, gun owning, bearded Neanderthal, responsible for all that is wrong with our planet.
The Corrupt, PC Olympic Committee Members should just stick with “Playing with Themselves”,as long as I don’t have to watch.
You’ve done this before. I like it.
After reading the comments on “urban” shooting competition, this is the most realistic, expecially the shorts 8 inches longer and no belt.
Loved the 9 hipoint too.
What has gender got to do with ability and skill with firearms? Sound misogynistic to me… but of course anything involving guns is just ripe for stomping on by leftist. Like everything else, the Olympics have been infected by leftist idiots. Wouldn’t watch 99% of the boring events anyway, except curling and javelin catching, now there’s entertainment!
Exactly! There are plenty of women out there capable of competing with and besting men in the shooting sports.
If they want inclusivity, just get rid of the gender division.
No “mens” trap. Just trap.
It’s really that simple, BUT that’s NOT what they want.
And the lionization of firearms under the umbrella of the UN/IOC worldwide order continues. Air pistols and rifles? Lasers? The history of the Olympic shooting sports is directly attributable to preparation for soldiers going to battle. The best of the best, technique. accuracy…with real bullets not toys. What next, are they going to wear the non-ballistic Boba Fett body armor too? You want equality in shooting sports, talk to the Israeli’s…
The wosifying continues.
So, now political correctness is ruining the Olympics. The statement about more TV friendly events is just a flat out lie! Shooting events never get TV time!
I guess I’ll just be boycotting watching the 2020 Olympics! Lol, “breakdancing”, what the hell didn’t that end in the 80’s?
just more of the global control of guns and ammo. laser’s really? now that should work out well. guess it would be more inline with what all the kids are doing with the video games. like the other pro’s said here they did;t even run this up for a vote just took it on themselves to scrap these events without having the balls to just say we hate guns and we’re going to do away with them every chance we get.
this is why we must always continue to fight for our 2nd amendment rights here as the rest of the world is a lost cause as it has been shown by the Aussie’s, EU, and Canada.
Don’t forget Japan where these Olympics will be. That country once banned ALL guns because they would give peasants a way to defend themselves against sword-wielding oppressors. That worked against them in WWII because they had never learned to make small arms in massive quantities and do it well like we had. Their rifles were, for the most part, lousy. Today the vastly improved manufacturing skills of post-war Japan could surely turn out some of the finest guns on the market, but they’re not even a player. WWII also turned them into guilt-ridden gun haters with some of the strictest gun control laws on the planet.
Japanese Arisaka rifles were not lousy. They were well made at beginning of the war, and until they ran short of resources, were a priority to the Army. Their machine guns were well engineered and well made. Most of their handguns were dangerous ( to the owner mostly ) but soldiers don’t fight with handguns, and were seen as low priority.
That’s why I said “for the most part” and yes lack of resources toward the end of the war did make it worse of course. I’m sure they managed to make some good ones during their entire military buildup and the war that ensued. Were you there in the thick of it? My Dad was and he said their guns were pretty much sh*t compared to ours. I believe him.
O.K. where to start…You are correct, Japan first banned guns specifically to keep the Samurai class empowered and in control. a warrior with a life time of training could be easily killed by a peasant. Karma is a “female dog”as they say,as later industrial Japan would ban the carrying of swords as the agricultural based feudal system collapsed and others took power in Japan. They didn’t want regular people to have guns either,as it was a threat to their power.
It was the United States which forced isolated Japan to open for trade.In response to our aggression, Japan sought the best technology from Europe; battleships from Britain, Small Arms from Germany & France and military training. The legacy of this can be seen in Japanese Primary School Uniforms which were modeled after German Naval cadet uniforms at the time.
Japan can make excellent products like the pre-war Nambu, Arisaka and the Bren Type 96/97/99 were excellent machine guns. Just like the Germans,as the war went on, shortcuts were made to fit and finish,but not reliability.They also had some bad designs like the 94 Nambu pistol.
Breakdancing? Are you serious?
3×3 basketball a.k.a. alleyball. When I was younger I looked forward to watching two weeks of competition uniting the world under the banner of athletics. Now I couldn’t care less. I don’t think I watched five minutes the last time, whenever that was.
When I was a kid, the Olympics, during the Cold War was simply a proxy battle between the East and West. Everyone in the United States wanted to win more medals than the “professional” state athletes of the Soviet Union.
At the time all of our professional NFL, NHL, NBA and baseball players were barred from competing in the Olympic Games. So our best, never were allowed to compete.
When the Berlin Wall fell, we won and the Olympics were largely irrelevant.