Shooting was one of the nine events at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, in 1896.

Early competitions included some events now regarded as unusual, such as live pigeon shooting in 1900; dueling in 1906 and 1908; and numerous events restricted to military weapons.

After the 1900 games, the pigeons were replaced with clay targets.

For instance, only five women competed at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, while the next Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which introduced women-only events, featured 77 female competitors.

Two women won medals in mixed events: Margaret Murdock, silver in rifle 3 positions (1976) and Zhang Shan, gold in skeet (1992).