Date | 8 August 1936 — 8:30 | |
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Status | Olympic | |
Location | Schießstände (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Handfeuerwaffen), Wannsee | |
Participants | 66 from 25 countries | |
Format | 50 metres prone. 30 shots in two 15-shot series, each series to be completed within four minutes. 300 possible. |
The English Match was contested the day after the pistol events ended. The event started in rain, but the sun broke through and the later shooters had a brilliant day for the competition. The 66 shooters fired 30 shots from 50 metres at a target 20 centimetres in diameter, divided into 10 scoring rings. Ties were broken by a countback of the last shots fired. Norway’s Willy Røgeberg scored the first possible in international competition, hitting the center ring on all 30 shots for 300 points. He won easily with the next six shooters scoring 296. After every two shots, Røgeberg was noted to close his eyes and rest his head on his forearm for a brief while. When informed he was shooting a perfect match, he got more nervous, but he had already recorded a 298 in practice.The fourth-place finisher, Martin Gison of the Philippines, had been captured during World War II and survived the infamous Bataan Death March.