Shooting at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games:

The format was slightly different in 1996 with only a preliminary round and a final, but no semi-final round. Former East German Ralf Schumann was the defending champion, the World Champion, and the world record holder and was expected to win. He dominated the event winning both phases of the qualifying, and leading by six points going into the final. He could only lose by completely losing his nerve in the final and he came thru for the gold medal easily over Bulgaria’s Emil Milev. Schumann became the third shooter to defend the gold medal in rapid-fire pistol, after Hungary’s Károly Takács in 1948-52, and Poland’s Józef Zapędzki in 1968-72.