Shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics – Men's 300 metre free rifle, team

The men's team free rifle at 300 metres was one of 15 events on the shooting at the 1908 Summer Olympics programme. The competition was held on Thursday, 9 July 1908 and was extended after sunset to Friday, 10 July 1908 — it was the first shooting event of the Games.^[1] Fifty-four sport shooters from nine nations competed.^[2] The event was won by the team from Norway, improving on their second-place finish in 1900. Sweden made its debut in the event, taking silver. France repeated as bronze medalists.

Men's team 300 metre free rifle at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Shooting pictogram
Venue	Bisley rifle range
Dates	9–10 July
Competitors	54 from 9 nations
Winning score	5055
Medalists
Norway (NOR) Julius Braathe Albert Helgerud Einar Liberg Olaf Sæther Ole Sæther Gudbrand Skatteboe  Sweden (SWE) Per-Olof Arvidsson Janne Gustafsson Axel Jansson Gustaf Adolf Jonsson Claës Rundberg Gustav-Adolf Sjöberg  France (FRA) Eugène Balme Albert Courquin Raoul de Boigne Léon Johnson Maurice Lecoq André Parmentier
← 1900 1912 →

Ole Sæther was the first man to earn multiple medals in the event, having been on the 1900 Norwegian team as well as this year's squad.

Background

This was the second appearance of the men's 300 metre team rifle event, which was held 4 times between 1900 and 1920.^[3]

The teams used different rifles. France shot with a Swiss Martini; Denmark used a Crag-Jørgensen; Greece and the Netherlands shot with a Mannlicher; Sweden used a government-issue Mauser; and Finland shot with a Mofferd. Norway used private match rifles. Due to winds blowing against the players, teams with light rifles faced more difficulty.^[1][4]

Reigning Olympic champions Switzerland did not return. Finland, Great Britain, Greece, and Sweden each made their debut in the event. Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Norway each made their second appearance.

Competition format

The competition had each shooter fire 120 shots, 40 shots in each of three positions: prone, kneeling, and standing. The target was 1 metre in diameter, with 10 scoring rings; targets were set at a distance of 300 metres. The six team members' scores were then summed. Thus, the maximum score possible was 7200 points. The scores for the team event were separate from the individual event this time.^[4]

Schedule

Date	Time	Round
Thursday, 9 July 1908 Friday, 10 July 1908		Final

Results

Teams consisted of six shooters, with each shooter firing 120 shots at the target 300 metres distant. 40 shots were fired from each of three positions—standing, kneeling, and prone. A bulls-eye counted for 10 points, and thus the highest possible score for each shooter was 1200 points, with the team maximum being 7200.

Rank	Nation	Shooter	Score
			Standing	Kneeling	Prone	Total
	Norway	Team total	1549	1651	1855	5055
		Albert Helgerud	259	303	312	874
		Ole Sæther	274	281	310	865
		Gudbrand Skatteboe	247	277	317	841
		Olaf Sæther	237	283	320	840
		Julius Braathe	249	272	305	826
		Einar Liberg	283	235	291	809
	Sweden	Team total	1267	1566	1878	4711
		Gustaf Adolf Jonsson	238	289	313	840
		Per-Olof Arvidsson	233	268	311	812
		Axel Jansson	228	263	310	801
		Gustav-Adolf Sjöberg	210	238	312	760
		Claës Rundberg	160	265	334	759
		Janne Gustafsson	198	243	298	739
	France	Team total	1250	1539	1863	4652
		Léon Johnson	225	313	298	836
		Eugène Balme	230	250	321	801
		André Parmentier	206	264	303	773
		Albert Courquin	203	235	330	768
		Maurice Lecoq	222	240	294	756
		Raoul de Boigne	164	237	317	718
4	Denmark	Team total	1244	1534	1765	4543
		Niels Andersen	163	249	313	725
		Lars Jørgen Madsen	240	297	279	816
		Ole Olsen	214	257	283	754
		Niels Christian Christensen	209	249	294	752
		Christian Pedersen	227	224	297	748
		Hans Schultz	191	258	299	748
5	Belgium	Team total	1229	1507	1773	4509
		Charles Paumier du Verger	217	296	313	826
		Paul Van Asbroeck	222	237	328	787
		Ernest Ista	224	270	292	786
		Henri Sauveur	206	241	319	766
		Joseph Geens	215	259	266	740
		Édouard Poty	145	204	255	604
6	Great Britain	Team total	999	1519	1837	4355
		Jesse Wallingford	188	284	317	789
		Harold Hawkins	201	268	307	776
		Charles Churcher	162	270	328	760
		Thomas Raddall	195	246	313	754
		James Bostock	126	246	296	668
		Robert Brown	127	205	276	608
7	Netherlands	Team total	965	1427	1738	4130
		Gerard van den Bergh	176	273	302	751
		Christiaan Brosch	179	234	295	708
		Cornelis van Altenburg	149	249	291	689
		Antonie de Gee	164	254	266	684
		Uilke Vuurman	145	231	277	653
		Jan Brussaard	152	186	307	645
8	Finland	Team total	1182	1324	1456	3962
		Frans Nässling	222	253	242	717
		Gustaf Nyman	199	249	252	700
		Heikki Huttunen	184	221	239	644
		Voitto Kolho	209	216	217	642
		Emil Nässling	181	190	266	637
		Huvi Tuiskunen	187	195	240	622
9	Greece	Team total	848	1311	1630	3789
		Ioannis Theofilakis	162	248	302	712
		Matthias Triantafyllidis	149	227	277	653
		Alexandros Theofilakis	160	216	269	645
		Georgios Orphanidis	117	242	263	622
		Defkalion Rediadis	155	190	274	619
		Frangiskos Mavrommatis	105	188	245	538

References

1. Mallon, Bill; Buchanan, Ian (13 May 2009). The 1908 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events. McFarland & Company. p. 226. ISBN 978-0-7864-4068-9. OL 28448614M. Wikidata Q105480243.
2. . sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
3. "Historical Results". ISSF. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
4. "Free Rifle, Three Positions, 300 metres, Team, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 June 2021.

External links

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Shooting 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Retrieved 9 May 2006.