One more Olympic trivia item (Olympics used to be a little less 'formal')

DaleA

New member
On his way to the 1896 Olympics being held in Athens, Greece, John Paine a member of the Boston Athletic Association team decided to stop and visit his brother Sumner Paine who was working in Paris France.

On a whim the two decided to take a shot (as it were) and enter the Olympic pistol events. The two didn't know what the Olympic shooting events were so to be thoroughly prepared they loaded up eight firearms and 3,500 rounds of ammunition (they only used 96 rounds) and set off to the Olympics.

In the Military Revolver event John got the gold (442 points), Sumner got the silver (380 points) and Nikolaos Dorakis of Greece (205 points) got the bronze.

Since John had already received a gold medal he did not enter the Free Pistol event which Sumner won handily getting a gold with 442 points while the silver went to Holger Nielsen of Denmark with 285 points.

This information comes from The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, Athens 2004 Edition by David Wallechinsky.
 
Other than track and field, for which there are far more events, the shooting sports have by far been the America's most successful.

I've been fortunate enough over the years to meet a bunch of our Olympic medalists in the shooting sports.

whoops, looks like wrestling and swimming have surpassed the shooting sports now.
 
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