The Olympic Trap Source Page By Rich Gentry
History
Olympic Trap AKA International Trap AKA Bunker Trap is the adaptation of ATA (American) Trap to the Olympic venue. When the International Olympic Committee was going to put Trap in the Olympics, they needed to make it harder because ATA is too easy to be an Olympic event. Some ATA competitions last days and in those tournaments the winner usually doesn't miss a target. It wouldn't do to have a ten-day competition to decide one medal. So they created Olympic Trap just to make it hard to do. Just as a side note, I think they succeeded. There has never been an International Trap competition where a person has hit every target thrown. A person in Men's competition came close this year, but 149/150 is still not perfect.
A Little Bit of Controversy
Olympic Doubles Trap was a full-fledged Olympic event for the first time in Atlanta. Olympic Doubles Trap was created as an attempt to mix the high points of Skeet with the high points of Trap to form an event for women. According to many members of the UIT (The international governing body for shooting sports) there were not enough women competing in World level competitions in skeet and trap to allow them to compete with everyone else in trap and skeet. So they created International Doubles Trap to have a sport where women compete against only women. Women could no longer compete internationally in skeet and trap under the auspices of Olympic competition. They could now only compete in doubles trap. Women shoot 40targets per round. A tournament is usually 120 targets. After the UIT created this game that was just for women, men decided they liked it. So the people who threw women out of competing with men also created a doubles trap event just for men. Men shoot 50 targets per round with a tournament being 150 targets. So you see that women and men's scores cannot be compared. It is also worthy to note that at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona a woman from China set a new world record and won the Gold Medal in Skeet. It was the following year that women were removed from International skeet and trap.
In 1997, the UIT got a clue and decided that it didn't cost them much to have women compete in events on the international level (The original justification for exclusion had centered on cost). However, instead of allowing women to compete against men in open competition like before, they created two new events for them one for trap and one for skeet. It is my understanding that the women's events are the same in every respect as the men's events, just without the men. The UIT has missed the point that one of the golden aspects of this game was that women and men were on equal footing in this sport. Besides blatant sexism, the UIT could only justify removing women from the games by contending that their physical ability made it impossible for them to compete. I think that most people will agree with me that shooting 75 targets day requires more mental strength than physical ability. In my opinion it is difficult to be too harsh with the UIT in this matter. There was no reason, after the 1992 Olympics, to remove women from the games save ridiculous justification based on lame excuses.
I should point out that the United States' representative to the UIT voted against removing women from the Trap and Skeet events in the first place.
US Olympic Trap/Double Trap Medallists
2004 Women's Double Trap Gold Kim Rhode 1996 Women's Double Trap Gold Kim Rhode 1976 International Trap Gold Dan Hadleman
1996 International Trap Silver Josh Lakatos 1968 International Trap Silver Tom Garrigus
2000 Women's Double Trap Bronze Kim Rhode1996 International Trap Bronze Lance Babe1984 International Trap Bronze Dan Carlise 1964 International Trap Bronze Bill Morris
The Game
This is the set up for an International Trap Range. As you see the field is rather long, the green box is called the "house" or the "bunker." The blue boxes are the shooting positions. The dimensions are in meters because that is the international standard. In front of every shooting station are three machines inside the bunker. The red mark indicates the center machine. The machines are preset to a specific height and distance for the target to travel. The shooter gets one from the center machine and two from the left and right machines during the course of a round. The shooting positions the shooters stand on and the roof of the bunker are at the same height.
The targets can fly up to 70 meters away this can make the speed of the targets in some places over 60 miles per hour. As the figure demonstrates, the targets have an arch of 90° they can travel through. The height on the targets is set at a point ten meters from the throwing arm of the trap machine. This setting can range from one-half a meter above the ground to three meters, and the target is still rising after the initial ten meters. Now let us look at some practical examples of a target situation. So imagine a four-inch disk (but you can only see the edge of it which is one inch) traveling two feet above the ground at 60 miles per hour and you are supposed to hit it. Then imagine the same little disk travel at normal highway speeds ten feet above your head 33 yards away after only a split second of flight. By the time you see the target, it could be 30 feet high 45 degrees to your left traveling at 50 miles per hour and you only get two shots. Compare it to trying to shoot the hubcap off a car going the opposite way down the interstate in the far lane.
If it sounds like fun, you are sick. There is a great thrill in hitting a target like that though. International shooters whether they shoot skeet or trap are the ultimate bad asses in a gun club. Truly, the only way to really tell an experienced shooter is to see if they have respect for international shooters. Most shooters think that international events are too hard so they stick to the easy stuff where they miss a target once a month. If they are novice or just assholes they don't have any respect for international shooters, if they are good they know that we could come down to there little range and whip them any time with any gun in any weather. Okay that was my blatant jab at American shooters who try to tell me how to shoot their games "good." That is also a stab at all those people who e-mail me telling me how good they are and that I need to shut up.
Time for me to explain how the game progresses. First off, there are six people per squad of shooters. These shooters fire at25 targets. A shooter can take two shots at each target, and there is no penalty for using both shots. The first shooter fires at his target and the next shooter has 10 seconds to call for his target. The first shooter then moves into the second shooters position to prepare for his next shot. Since there is always someone moving there is room for the sixth person. This continues until the shooter reaches station five. Then the shooter walks back to station one on the far left side of the field and the cycle begins anew. It might sound like a lot to keep up with, but it pretty easy since everyone else is doing it too. The fact that the shooters only have ten seconds to call for their target from the time the shooter before them shot at his target keeps the game moving at a very fast pace compared to a game like skeet, although it moves slower than American Trap.
Equipment and Style
At this point, I was going to explain what most people do to hit a target. Once I started thinkin' (Pardon the accent this is a page in Florida) about it though, I realized that I have seen people attempt to shoot it every way possible. Because it is so hard people come up with the weirdest ways to stand. I have seen a guy hop when he called the target. I have seen a guy try to shoot the target with the gun still at his hip. I know a guy who sits on a stool when he shoots, and he is pretty good! I used to get so worked up before I shot I looked like I was going to kill people. I have seen people shoot at targets with slide-action guns, single-barreled guns, superimposed barrel guns (over-under), and semi-automatics. I have known people to shoot 3 and ½ dram loads to hit a little target. I knew a guy who would wear as little as possible to shoot, I saw another who was so decked out in leather shooting accessories he looked like a reject from Pulp Fiction. So the moral of the story is that this is a very diverse and unique sport. There is no set way to do it except that you have to have a gun and you have to point at the target. I would suggest to anyone to at least give it a try, if for no other reason than to learn humility. Call your local gun club there will probably be someone there who can help you out. If nothing else e-mail the guy at USA Shooting on the bottom of this page and ask or e-mail me and I will find out for you. Bunkers are springing up all over the place and now is a good time to get into this sport. My Experience Okay Okay, you are probably asking, "What the does this guy know and what experience and credentials does he have." Well if you are not interested then you should listen anyway.1992 Camp Shands BSA Shooting Sports CIT 1992 Florida Junior Olympic Camp 2nd place 1992 Georgia Junior Olympic Championships 3rd place trap1992 Sunshine State Games 1st place Sub-Junior 1992 First trip to the Junior Olympic Championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 1992 Florida Sport Shooting Assoc. Junior State Champion1992 Assistant Instructor of Shotgun at NRA Instructor School1993 Grand Prix of America 3rd Place Junior 1993 Grand Prix of America 3rd Place "D" Class1993 Southeast Region Junior Champion 1993 Zone 3 2nd Junior1993 Atlantic Coast International Trapshooting Assoc. Junior Champion 1993 Florida Junior Olympic Champion1993 2nd Trip to the Junior Olympic Championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 1993 State Championship Junior Champion 1993 Florida Sport Shooting Assoc. Junior State Champion1994 Florida Junior Olympic Camp Shotgun Instructor1994 Zone 3 Junior Champion1994 Shotgun Instructor NRA Instructor School 1994 Junior Olympic State Champion1994 3rd trip to the Junior Olympic Championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Place 10th. 1995 Atlantic Coast International Trapshooting Assoc. Southeast Region Overall Champion1995 Florida Junior Olympic Camp Shotgun Instructor1995 Shotgun Instructor NRA Instructor School1995 Junior Olympic State Champion1995 4th invitation to the Olympic Training Center1996 Sunshine State Games Overall Champion Trap1996 Sunshine State Games Overall Champion Doubles Trap1996 Southeast Region Junior Champion 1996 Northeast Florida Council of The Boy Scouts of America committee on firearms policy1996 5th invitation to The Olympic Training Center1997 Southeast Region Olympic Trap Hi-Junior1997 Southeast Region Olympic Double Trap Hi-Junior1997 Florida Championship Olympic Trap 3rd Overall1997 Florida Championship Olympic Double Trap 2nd Overall 1997 6th invitation to The Olympic Training Center1997 4th trip to The Olympic Training Center to compete in the JO's.1998 Southeastern Region Champion2000 Southeastern Region Men’s Double Champion2000 3rd Southeastern Region Singles Championship
Useful Olympic Trap Links
Talk to me who ever you are There are only people interested in this sport.
(Counter restarted June 5, 1999)
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