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 athletes who reach the best results during designated ISSF Olympic Qualification competitions such as ISSF World Championships, ISSF World Cups, Continental Championships or Continental Games.

Quota Places are country-related: the athlete 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 athletes. Therefore, the athlete who secures a Quota Place 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 Athlete X could be used by the country of appurtenance to enter Athlete 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.

The MQS (Minimum Qualification Score) is a minimum score that an athlete must have recorded at least once in the set timeframe, 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 (the Individual Qualification Score IQS) of each athlete 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 for the 50m Rifle 3 Positions Men has been set to 1135 rings. An athlete willing to participate in the Games, must have scored at least 1135 rings during an ISSF supervised competition at least once in the set timeframe.