Ian Roy Ballinger (21 October 1925 – 24 December 2008) was a New Zealand

shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

who won a bronze medal at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. Ballinger competed at three consecutive

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

) and two

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

( 1974 and 1978) in the 50m Rifle - prone event. He was awarded the Lonsdale Cup by the

New Zealand Olympic Committee The New Zealand Olympic Committee (before 1994, The ''New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association'') is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to re ...

in 1968, and the following year he won the Ballinger Belt (named for his great uncle, turn-of-the-century shooting champion Arthur Ballinger) at the New Zealand rifle shooting championships.

References

1925 births 2008 deaths Sportspeople from New Plymouth ISSF rifle shooters New Zealand male sport shooters Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Olympic shooters for New Zealand Shooters at the 1968 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1972 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1976 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand Shooters at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Shooters at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics {{NewZealand-sportshooting-bio-stub