Shooting

About Shooting

At the Olympics, shooting events are divided into rifle, pistol and shotgun categories, each with its own distances and target formats, decided by qualification rounds followed by a medal-deciding final in which competitors are eliminated one by one.

Ireland's most prominent Olympic shooter is Derek Burnett, who competed in the trap event at five Games between Sydney 2000 and Tokyo 2020, missing only Rio 2016, a run matched by only two other Irish Olympians, sailor David Wilkins and race walker Rob Heffernan. His best finish came at Athens 2004, when he placed joint ninth, narrowly missing out on the six-man final. Shooting has otherwise featured a small group of dedicated marksmen and women representing Ireland across multiple Games.