Ralf Schumann

Ralf Schumann is the most titled rapid-fire pistol shooter ever. He was the Olympic Champion in 1992, 1996, and 2004, and also won silver at the Olympics in 1988 and 2008. Schumann was World Champion with the rapid-fire pistol in 1990 and 1998, runner-up in 2002, and bronze medalist in 1986 and 1984. He has won almost 40 World Cup titles, and seven European Championships – 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1999, and 2003. In the World Cup, he has won the year-end title 13 times between 1989 and 2007, and been on the podium 17 times. He set his first world record with the rapid-fire pistol in 1991 and held the record thru 2006. He began shooting in the former East Germany, and made the 1984 Olympic team which did not compete at Los Angeles. In Germany, Schumann was known as “Schützen Schumi,” or “Schumi of shooters,” a reference to Formula I driving legend, Michael Schumacher. Schumann has worked as a precision mechanic in a sawmill and with a weapons importer. At the weapons importer he designed his own pistol, now manufactured by the Italian company Pardini, which is popular with many of his competitors. He is married to an Olympic pistol shooter, the former Anke Völker.