The third and final in our series of articles describing the disciplines that will be featured in the London 2012 Olympics – this time round, we’re looking at Olympic Skeet. Previously we covered Double Trap here and Olympic Trap here.

Olympic Skeet is a discipline of shotgun shooting that involves shooting clays from a variety of angles and heights from within a clearly defined and governed layout.  For Olympic Skeet – 8 stations are marked around (and in) a semi-circle arrangement, with two trap houses situated at either end of the semi-circle. The trap houses are labelled high and low, and the name suggests are of different corresponding heights.

Shooters move around the 8 stands – shooting a  combination of targets from each house – based on a scheme as follows:

  • Station 1 : Single from High and then a Double
  • Station 2: Single from High and then a Double
  • Station 3 : Single from High and then a Double
  • Station 4: Single High followed by a Single Low, then a Double shooting the High bird first
  • Station 5: Single Low then a Double
  • Station 6: Single Low then a Double
  • Station 7: Double (low target first)
  • Station 8: High Single followed by Low Single (When shooting station 8 the shooter must turn away from the referee so that at no time the gun is pointed in the direction of the referee or other shooters.)

Many people consider Olympic Skeet to be the most difficult of the three Olympic shotgun disciplines – mainly due to the rule which states the shooter must hold the toe of the gun BELOW a line marked on the skeet vest, which is level with the natural drop of the elbow.  Added to this, targets are released by a random timer which allows the clay to be released at any time from zero to three seconds after the shooter has called. The shooter is NOT allowed to mount the gun before the target is released.  There are detailed rules around foot position and time faults – which make this a challenging version of shooting.

Full rules for Olympic Skeet are available on the ISSF website.

Current holders of the Olympic Gold Medal for skeet are Vince Hancock (Mens) and Chiara Cainero (Womens)