ISSF President Rossi reflects on historic 2024 shooting season

ISSF President Luciano Rossi has shared his thoughts following the conclusion of the 2024 season, reflecting on several subjects including the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

At the end of the ISSF World Cup Final in New Delhi, India he provided thanks to National Rifle Association of India President Shri. Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo and his team for its hospitality during the event.

"I am very glad that we restored the World Cup Finals to our calendar and, as was case last year, we have prize money for the podium.

"In total there were 124 athletes from 34 countries for 131 starts.

"We also had a world record from Huang Yuting and with all the action streamed on our YouTube and Facebook live.

"Congratulations also to our Athletes of the Year - Yang Ji-in of Korea and Liu Yukun of China."

While the ISSF World Cup Final ended the season, the banner moment was the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, with shooting events held in Chateauroux. While Rossi acknowledged the challenges of the sport being outside the host city, he lauded the work of local organisers and the ISSF in putting on a fantastic event.

"We need to accept that while it was not ideal for shooting sport to be more than 300km from Paris and for our athletes not to have been able to participate in the Opening Ceremony or stay with all the other athletes in the Olympic Village, I am really proud of the way ISSF and all the delegations and athletes dealt with the situation and turned a challenge into an opportunity. 

"Chateauroux became the world centre of shooting sports during the Games and we were warmly embraced by the community there and the athletes' performances were amazing.

"We invested heavily in ISSF House, supported by sponsor partners like RWS , Beretta, Capapie, Suooter, Matarelli, CSG and Sius to make sure that the sport shooting family were able to spend time together and celebrate our successes in a wonderful atmosphere.

"The media were also welcomed there – our team did 67 video interviews with athletes in 10 days – reached 143 million people on social – with 179 million views of our content.

"We were also delighted to see how this Olympic Games showed the potential of our sport to capture the imagination of younger audiences, with two of our top athletes - Yusuf Dikec and Kim Ye-ji – becoming social media sensations during the Games.

"We have great potential to reach out beyond our usual fans and appeal to the mainstream public."

But as much as looking back was important for the ISSF President, he spoke highly of his strong working relationship with the International Olympic Committee and the future of the sport on the Olympic Games.

"When I was elected at the end of 2022, the relationship was very strained and shooting sport was very close to being removed from the LA 2028 Olympic Games.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that if this had happened then it would have meant the end of our sport as the Olympics is the dream for all our athletes and brings crucial funding to the sport at national level, thanks to Olympic development programmes.

"So, I am very proud that thanks to the lobbying of our leadership team, we have rebuilt our relationship with the IOC and have ensured that we will be part of the 2028 Olympics. 

"However, we do not just want to 'take part' but to be a successful and valued asset for these Games.

"So, we are discussing directly, both with the IOC and with LA 2028, ways to improve the presentation of our sport, to make sure that the TV production and media promotion of our athletes is top class and adds value to the Games.

"If we want our sport to grow, then we need to be open minded about ways to improve what we are showing so that the excitement and suspense you feel in the finals hall can be transmitted to those watching on TV and social media.

"We are developing ways to improve our story telling of the athlete experience, and our new marketing and communication units are working hard on this.

"All of these efforts will help to bring in more commercial revenue which has been one of ISSF’s weaknesses in the past.

"At the same time, we want to be at the heart of the Olympic experience in LA – in the city and not hundreds of miles away!"

Aside from the Olympic Games, Rossi mentioned the future stars at the World Junior Championships in Lima who he hopes to see in Los Angeles competing in four years time, as well as the newly-created ISSF Academy, which aims to improve education and certification across the sport.

The improvement in professionalism has been key to the ISSF's success in 2024, under Rossi and his team's watch, praising the new ISSF Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di San Giacomo.

"One of the key issues is that we have transformed the workforce and culture in our office, under the leadership of our Secretary General Alessandro Nicotra di San Giacomo who since June has been making sure that ISSF has the right structure, covering the key areas of sport operations, technical rules, event management, marketing and communications," said the President.

"We now have an international team of experts committed to developing shooting sport and I’m very happy for example, to welcome back the very experienced Peter Underhill as ISSF’s Event Director after he was Competition Director for the Olympic Games in Paris and Tokyo.

"In terms of governance, we have a General Assembly in November where we will introduce new constitutional changes to enhance our ways of working and help us to move up the ASOIF Good Governance ranking.

"Our aim is to be as transparent as possible and to make sure that there is continual and open communication with all stakeholders in our sport."

2024 was also a success, virtually. Rossi said he hoped for shooting's inclusion at the Olympic Esports Games, set to take place in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2025.

"ISSF was one of only 10 sports to be included in the 2023 Singapore Esports Week and we are committed to being part of this new Olympic project.

"Rest assured we are working hard to develop a unique game that we hope will allow us to be part of this new Games and enable us to connect and directly engage with 3.2 billion video gamers around the world."