Air Pistol, 10 metres, Team, Mixed

The format of this event had slightly changed since Tokyo, with the elimination of the second phase of qualification. This time, the top four teams would move straight into the medal matches, instead of contesting an eight team second round. With the team event taking place after the individual finals, observers had a chance to gauge the form of the pairs involved. This suggested that China, Korea, and India would have a strong chance of being amongst the medals.

The first shock of the event was the score of the home country’s team. Touted as pre-Games favorites by the respected Sports Illustrated magazine, they misfired and finished the qualification process in dead last of the 17 pairings.

The Turkish second pairing of Yusuf Dikeç and İlayda Tarhan topped the qualifying stage and met Serbia for the gold medal. The top Indian and South Korean pairs contested the bronze.

India’s team were comfortable winners of the bronze medal, but the gold medal match turned into a classic. The Turks took an early lead but, when the shooters had all taken 10 of their possible 15 shots, the Serbs levelled it. The pairs shared the next four rounds of shooting, so the gold would be decided by the final four shots. Damir Mikec, in his fifth Olympic Games, shot a 10.7 to make up for his partner Zorana Arunović’s 9.4, and when the Turks faltered Serbia had the Olympic title.

Yusuf Dikeç became a social media sensation for his apparently casual approach to shooting. His non-firing hand rested in his pocket for each shot he took. Dikeç later sought to register his shooting pose as a trademark in Turkey.