Clay Target Q&A
With Russell Mark, Olympic gold and silver medallist
Questions: russell@corporateshootingstars.com.au
Q I would like you to settle an argument about shooting at the Olympics. I was told that live pigeons were once used instead of clay targets at the Olympic Games. Is this correct?
Nick Barros, Vic
A For more than 90 years, the events that surrounded the 1900 Olympic Games were shrouded in mystique and controversy. Finally, in 1992, the International Olympic Committee put the debate to rest and made the results and indeed what the events were public.
It seems there were two shotgun events that were part of the official Olympic program in 1900 and both involved shooting pigeons. The first event was called the Grand Prix de l’Exposition where pigeons were held in traps (hence the origin of the name ‘trap shooting’) and released into flight upon the shooter’s command. There were 52 entries in this competition and Australia’s own Donald Mackintosh took 18 pigeons within the 16-yard boundary to be awarded a bronze medal. There has never been any mention of how many birds in total the event consisted of, only that the competitor was eliminated upon their second miss. Leon de Lunden from Belgium took 21 birds and Maurice Faure from France took 20 birds.
It was reported that the prize money (as this was a professional shooting event) was split up among the top four competitors and Mackintosh pocketed 20,000 French Francs for his efforts. Not a bad day’s work back in 1900 I would imagine!
Next up was a ‘driven’ bird event called the Prix Centenaire, where, presumably, the birds were driven towards the waiting shooter. 166 competitors lined up for this competition and our very own Donald Mackintosh took 22 consecutive pigeons to gain the gold medal.
The circumstances surrounding the Paris Olympic Games were very unusual. An international fair called the Universal Paris Exhibition was conducted in conjunction with the Games and there were as many as 31 unofficial shooting events as part of this exhibition. It is almost widely accepted that Mackintosh had no idea he was competing in any official Olympic event when he shot in Paris. The fact that Mackintosh was a full-blooded professional shooter may explain why the IOC had overlooked his achievements, as, back then, the Olympics were for pure amateurs only. Interestingly, the IOC does not mention these events on their website and have never acknowledged that pigeons were ever used, but the Australian Olympic Committee’s official historian, Mr Harry Gordon, is very clear on the facts and circumstances.
The year 1900 was the one and only time where animals were shot for sport at an Olympic Games. Shooting was a part of the original modern Olympics in Athens. However, twice, in 1904 in St Louis and 1928 in Stockholm, shooting was not part of the events contested at the Games.
Donald Mackintosh was born in 1866 and started school at Rockbank in the outer west of Melbourne. He passed away in 1951, long before his Olympic efforts were ever made official. His Olympic medals and some other of his memorabilia are held in the Gallery of Sport Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.