Olympic Games Qualification

Given the limited number of qualification slots available for shooting sport at Olympic Games and at the Youth Olympic Games, the qualification system for our sport is based on Quota Places.

A Quota Place is a qualification ticket to enter the Games, awarded by the ISSF to those shooters who reach the best results during designated ISSF Olympic Qualification competitions such as World Cups, World Championships or Continental Championships.

Quota Places are country-related: the shooter wins a quota place, which is then owned by his/her country. Each country is free to decide how to use the Quota Places won by its shooters. Therefore, the shooter who secures a Quota is not automatically qualified for the Games, as the final decision is to be taken by his/her national team. As an example, the Quota Place won by Shooter X could be used by the country of appurtenance to enter Shooter Y in the Games.

Each Olympic cycle, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) assigns a certain number of Quota Places to the ISSF, which then distribute them to nations through designated qualification competitions.

- 390 Quota Places were given to ISSF at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, which were than re-distributed to 103 different countries.

- 80 Quota Places will be distributed for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

- 390 Quota Places will be distributed for the 2012 Olympic Games in London

The MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) is a minimum score that a shooter must have recorded at least once during his/her shooting career, in order to become eligible to take part in the Olympic Games or in the Youth Olympic Games.

The Minimum Qualification Scores for each shooting event are designated by the ISSF.

The personal MQS scores of each shooter are recorded through ISSF supervised shooting events, and each athlete willing to participate in the Olympic Games or in the Youth Olympic Games must record it before heading to the Games.

As an example, the MQS score for the 10m Air Rifle Men has been set to 570 points scored in one round of 60 shots. A shooter willing to participate in the Games, must have scored at least 570 points during an ISSF supervised competition at least once in the set timeframe.