Skeet shooting - Definition and Overview

Skeet is a clay pigeon shooting sport, one of the ISSF shooting events. It was invented by Charles E. Davies, an avid grouse hunter, in 1915 and evolved to its current setup by 1923. In 1926 a contest was held to name the new sport, and Gertrude Hurlbutt, named it skeet, which is derived from the Scandanavian word for "shoot".

Skeet is a recreational and competitive activity where participants attempt to destroy clay disks flung into the air at high speed. The firearm of choice for this task is a high quality shotgun. The use of clay disks replaced the more traditional target of live birds, as a cheaper and more reliable alternative, one reason they are also called clay pigeons. The event is in part meant to simulate the action of bird hunting. The shooter shoots from 8 positions on a semi-circle. There are two houses that release the targets, one at each corner of the semi-circle. The houses direct the targests into the other half of the circle from. One house releases targets from 10 feet about the ground ("high" house) and the other releases it from 3 feet above ground ("low" house).

Skeet shooting has been an Olympic event since 1968.

Prominent Olympians:

• Shan Zhang - A young Chinese woman who won an upset gold medal in a mixed event in 1992. Since then there have been separate men and women's skeet events.