Shooting started out life as a means of hunting, but evolved into a sport and was one of the events on the agenda for the first of the modern Olympic Games, held in Athens, Greece in 1896.

Women were first allowed to compete alongside men at the games in Mexico City in 1968, but it wasn't until 1992 in Barcelona that Zhang Shan from China became the first woman to win a gold medal in a mixed shooting event. Since 1996, however, there have been separate shooting events for men and women.

Olympic shooting events are made up of three categories - shotgun, pistol and rifle - and across the categories, there's the potential to win 15 gold medals. The venue for the shooting events at the 2012 Olympics in London is likely to be the impressive Royal Artillery Barracks, in south east London, which will accommodate up to 7,500 spectators.