[1] Russia's Alexey Alipov attained an almost perfect score of 149 to tie the Olympic record for the gold medal in this event.

The silver medal was awarded to Italy's Giovanni Pellielo with 146 points, while Australia's Adam Vella claimed the bronze with 145.

(The sixth finalist from Sydney, David Kostelecký of the Czech Republic, did not compete in Athens but returned to Beijing 2008 and won gold there.)

The three World Champions since the 2000 Games were Diamond (2001, defending his 1999 title; he also took silver in 2002), Al-Mudhaf (2002), and Karsten Bindrich of Germany.

Other World medalists competing in Athens were Bret Erickson of the United States (silver 2001) and Alexey Alipov of Russia (bronze 2003).

To compete, a shooter needed a quota spot and to achieve a Minimum Qualification Score (MQS).