Tyler Wallace, of the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM), posted this about shooting as a sport.
Shooting: I wouldn’t call it a sport but more of a skill and therefore not appropriate for the games.
– Tyler Wallace, NASM
So, shooting is not a “real sport” and should not be included in things like the Olympic Games, according to Tyler Wallace. It is sad and very telling that someone involved at NASM is so ridiculously ignorant of sport history.
Baron Pierre de Coubertin was the founder of the International Olympic Committee and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games. He was also a French pistol shooting champion. The father of the modern Olympic Games was a marksmanship champion and included Shooting events as part of the first Olympic Games in 1896. That makes it a sport valid for the Olympics, more so than many of the sports that have been included since.
Let’s look up how dictionaries define the word sport:
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sport
Sport
noun
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.
2. a particular form of this, especially in the out of doors.
4. diversion; recreation; pleasant pastime.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sport
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/sport
Sport
: a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other
: a physical activity (such as hunting, fishing, running, swimming, etc.) that is done for enjoyment
These dictionary definitions specifically list things like golf, bowling, hunting, and fishing among examples of a sport. These specific, by-name examples in the dictionary definition of the word are more skills, don’t necessarily require substantial physical exertion. Sometimes skilled competitors in such events may appear (or actually be) overweight and unathletic. But dictionaries maintain such activities are sports.
Some more history on shooting as a sport:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_de_Coubertin
http://www.rio2016.org/en/the-games/sports/olympic/shooting
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/olympics/longterm/shooting/shthist.htm
http://www.odcmp.org/0106/default.asp?page=GERMAN_MUSEUM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_sports
http://www.content4reprint.com/hobbies/sport-shooting-we-owe-it-all-to-the-civil-war.htm
Firearm User Network 
Jan 13, 2012 @ 10:05:53
The grass-eaters have been trying to get guns out of the Olympics for a generation now, using various approaches. When the Olympics were in Greece, the president of IPSC tried valiantly to get IPSC into the Olympics as an exhibition sport, since it would be far more interesting to spectators, and is more popular internationally than any of the slow fire mouse gun target games currently in the Olympics — but it scared the anti gun Europeans that control the Games and they refused the idea. The anti-gun people desperately need to get the firearms sports out of the Games as part of their effort to get shooting out of mainstream culture.\
No doubt Mr. Wallace has never seen an IPSC match. Running an IPSC stage is every bit as physically and mentally demanding as the 100 m dash, since it combines movement at max speed with precision shooting and high speed decision making.
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:25:31
Tell anyone who says it is not a sport to try it then tell me what they think!!!!
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:33:52
Obviously an individuals personal agenda creeps into their “professional” writings. The amount of precise practice, physical output and mental concentration a shooter must commit to training far in away surpasses those displayed by many who participate in sports you believe should be called true sports. Sadly one believes bowling a ball down a wooden ally or dusting ice in front of a steel puck is yet attempts to discredit another simply shows a personal perception or prejudice rather than factual reasoning. What makes it wonderful is that in America anyone is free to write anything so for that I am thankful. Stephen (Just a retired Soldier).
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:36:51
Okay, I’m right there with KR on this one. I shoot Law Enforcement Competitions which are physically demanding and on the same idea as IDPA, etc.
How does the Tyler Wallace explain the Olympic “sport” of CURLING”, which, in my opinion is equivalent to having knitting as an Olympic sport..lol
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:37:24
What are all sports but a test of skill? Well running isn’t a sport but more of a skill. MMA is gaining ground and is looked at with the same stink eye by the “tradtionalists” from not only the anti gunners but from within the older gun culture. The video game generation is coming up and am one of them at 32 years old I have been playing video games all my life , and for me bullseye shooting just isn’t going to cut it in the fun and action catogories. If fishing and cheerleading are sports , what makes them more a sport thern our badass sport. Screw those stuffed shirts at the olympic commitee , push at the X games because that where we belong , with the crowd cheering extreme sports not these golf clapping sports.
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 09:45:49
Totally rediculous position….. And curling is a sport?
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 10:19:23
Bad thing about the internet is it allows people who have no knowledge of a topic act as if they are experts on the topic while opining, thereby letting the rest of the world realize that they are blooming idiots who don’t know when NOT to express an opinion. Why, just like Tyler Wallace.
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 11:03:22
Shooting is THE sport. Everything else is just a game.
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 11:40:37
Oh, be still my heart. If I don’t like it, it’s not a sport. NASCAR? It involves physical and mental skill, and amazing equipment. Javelin? you don’t even have to aim a javelin. Shotput? that would equate to having the most powerful rifle and merely shooting the farthest. And those poor bi-athletes who have to get their heart rate up to about a zillion, then stop and shoot a bullet-sized target without waiting to rest–are they just good skiers with an expepnsive rifle?
Craps is not a sport; Neither is checkers, or chess (unless the pieces weigh several hundred pounds and there’s a tight time-limit). Running is a sport, as is jumping, but the target is not critical.
You don’t buy your way into the bullseye or the X-ring; I couldn’t qualify even if I had the world’s finest gun–nor could the world’s best body-builder.
Shooting is not just a skill; it’s a skill-set–all working together. muscle-tone won’t do it, the gun or sights won’t do it, and the mental attitude won’t do it–unless they’re all working together.
And in my never-to-be-humble opinion, curling too requires the strength, the skill, and the mindset–it’s just a little strange.
-bp
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Jan 14, 2012 @ 15:38:10
>>
Outstanding. I am stealing this one! :)
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Jan 15, 2012 @ 13:40:10
Mr Wallace obviously has never seen USPSA or 3-Gun events.
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Aug 23, 2014 @ 03:02:55
Hopefully all that read my reply do not take much offence. My knowledge of firearm’s is not that of many of yours I’m sure. Yet I am a competent gun owner and Airborne soldier going on 6 years active.
If one looks up the definition of sport shooting only qualifies when it is in competition. As for the Olympics I couldn’t give damn if they wanted to see who could finish cutting the grass first. But I’d never try to take something away from others enjoyment.
But trophy hunting should be banned. No damn sport in killing for pleasure. Or gratification. We kill to survive ourselves. Anything else is murder. Maybe I should hunt the hunters and have myself a trophy wall. This does not apply to those who hunt for food. Yet they neither should be smiling and taking family photos. That’s just evil at it’s core.
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Aug 23, 2014 @ 08:39:41
Hunting is more than a mere sport. It is literally life and death. All living creatures are part of the food chain and all of them are either predator or prey.
Calling hunting “evil” is just outrageous as it forms the basis of life as we know it. A human hunter is no more evil than any other predator species getting dinner. And unless you’re a vegan (or at least a strict vegetarian) calling hunting evil just makes you a hypocrite as you’ve merely contracted your killing out to others.
Something has to die for your continued existence, even if that something is a plant.
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Aug 03, 2016 @ 09:44:13
Shooting shouldn’t be in the olympics. It doesn’t require any athletic ability.
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Aug 03, 2016 @ 15:07:27
Shooting is already in the Olympics and has been since the re-inception. Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, was a shooter.
Marksmanship requires very refined and developed skill. Some shooting events also require athletic tests, such as Service Conditions matches with run downs and obstacles in courses of fire.
So you’re dead wrong on both counts.
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Aug 11, 2016 @ 07:50:51
John, try reading a dictionary. If something doesn’t require substantial physical exertion it generally isn’t regarded as a sport, regardless of the associated history. The number of overweight athletes competing in shooting tells you that it doesn’t require much physical exertion. Don’t be offended when people don’t call it a sport. It doesn’t demean it in any way. It’s all about the definitions.
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Aug 11, 2016 @ 08:10:04
>> try reading a dictionary
OK, let’s do that.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sport
Sport
noun
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sport
Sport
These dictionary definitions specifically list things like golf, bowling, hunting, and fishing among examples of a sport. We can find overweight people participating in these events that dictionaries specifically list as by-name examples of sports. There is not a single reference in these dictionary definitions stating sports “require substantial physical exertion to be generally regarded as sport.”
Yes, it’s all about the definitions. You should first actually read the dictionary definition before telling someone else to do so.
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