spectr17
03-29-2004, 08:44 PM
For Immediate Release
Mar. 27, 2004
USA Shooting Selects the 2004 Olympic Shotgun Team
FORT BENNING, Ga. – USA Shooting’s Final Olympic Selection Match, held Mar. 17-27 in Fort Benning, Ga., is finished, and the Shotgun Team that will represent the U.S. in this summer’s Olympic Games in Athens, Greece has been chosen.
In order to get the very best shooters to represent the U.S. at the 2004 Olympic Games, USA Shooting chooses the Olympic Team purely on a performance basis. For the Shotgun Team, one half of the Olympic Selection process was completed last fall on Colorado Springs’ Fort Carson ranges. Athletes carry over their scores from that First Selection Match and add them to the scores from the Final Selection Match in order to get their final scores and rankings.
In the first event to come to a close, it was a battle to the finish, as Collyn Loper (Indian Springs, Ala.) and U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Staff Sgt. Joetta Dement (Seale, Ala.) were neck-and-neck throughout most of the competition. It wasn’t until a tie-breaking round after the finals that Loper finally managed to defeat Dement by one target.
“That was probably one of the hardest things I’ll ever do in my life,” Loper said after the 25-target tie-breaking final. “I thought we would do a miss-and-out tie-breaker, but after I heard we had to do a full round, I knew I had to remain focused. I don’t think I have ever had to concentrate that hard for that long. Dement was a great competitor.”
The 17-year-old Loper, a junior at Oak Mountain High School, is naturally right handed. But being born blind in her right eye, forced her to train her body to shoot left, an obstacle that doesn’t seem to have any affect on her shooting.
In men’s trap, two-time Olympians Lance Bade (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Sgt. 1st Class Bret Erickson (Buena Vista, Ga.) crushed their opponents for two spots on the Olympic Team. There was no big battle for a spot on the men’s team, like there was for the women in this event. Bade and Erickson went into the final 11 targets up on their competitors. Bade finished with a 501 total score, while Erickson finished with a 499.
“I’m feeling really comfortable with how I’m shooting right now,” Bade said. “If I keep competing at this level, I not only will make the Olympic Team, I am confident I will make the medal stand at the Games.”
Erickson also made a run for the men’s double trap Team. And although all the pressure to make the Team was gone, he once again proved he was a competitor and secured his second spot on the 2004 Olympic Shotgun Team.
“I was almost too relaxed after I made that first Team,” Erickson explained after his second-day scores came back so much higher than his first days’. “I forgot what I was out there to do. I am too much of a competitor to just let someone else beat me on my home range, so I knew I had to go out and shoot my game.”
Glenn Eller (Houston, Texas) remained consistent through both days of the men’s double trap event, shooting a 590 total score and finishing one point on top of Erickson. At the 2000 Olympics, Eller finished in a disappointing 12th place, but looks at these 2004 Games as “another shot” for an Olympic medal. Eller took a year off college to train full time in Georgia for that precise reason.
In women’s double trap, it was no surprise Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) ran away with it all. Rhode, a two-time Olympic medalist, led the first day by a margin of 23, and increased her lead to 35 by the conclusion of the event. This will be Rhode’s third and final women’s double trap Olympic Team, considering women’s double trap event will be cut from the Olympic lineup after the 2004 Games. Rhode won a gold in the first Olympics the event was offered, in 1996, and took home a bronze in 2000. Rhode does hope to shoot in another women’s event in 2008, but “will have to see what happens.”
“Shooting is like walking for me, I don’t even think about it anymore,” Rhode says. “I still shoot a little skeet, but am not entirely sure what will happen after double trap is eliminated from the Olympics.”
The men’s skeet event was probably the most intense of the entire Olympic Trials. Leading the way into the final was Air Forces’ Lt. Col. Bill Roy (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Sgt. 1st Class Todd Graves (Columbus, Ga.). They had been neck-and-neck since the Fall Olympic Selection, and both seemed intent on snagging a spot on the 2004 Olympic Team.
But USAMU’s Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Dulohery changed all that. Dulohery surprised everyone by coming into finals and running 25-straight. Needless to say, Dulohery (Columbus, Ga.) finished the finals on top and earned one of the spots in men’s skeet. The second spot eventually went to Graves, who after two tie-breaking rounds, just squeezed by Roy to round out the men’s Olympic Team.
Connie Smotek (Lyons, Texas) won with a fairly painless victory in the women’s skeet event. Smotek’s next closest competitor, Haley Dunn (Eddysville, Iowa), was three targets behind throughout most of the Trials. Smotek finished five targets ahead of Dunn. Athens marks Smotek’s second Olympic Games. Her first were in 1992 where she finished 25th.
“I just love shooting,” Smotek said after she qualified for the 2004 Olympic Team. “I think that is the reason I can continue to shoot at this level for so long. I love being on the range and I love to compete. I would do it forever --if I could.”
Remember to look for the results from Rifle, Pistol and Running Targets’ Final Olympic Selection Match in May, where shooters will vie for the remaining qualifying spots on the 2004 Olympic Shooting Team.
For more information, log on to http://www.usashooting.org, or email USA Shooting’s media director at sara.greenlee@usashooting.org.
Mar. 27, 2004
USA Shooting Selects the 2004 Olympic Shotgun Team
FORT BENNING, Ga. – USA Shooting’s Final Olympic Selection Match, held Mar. 17-27 in Fort Benning, Ga., is finished, and the Shotgun Team that will represent the U.S. in this summer’s Olympic Games in Athens, Greece has been chosen.
In order to get the very best shooters to represent the U.S. at the 2004 Olympic Games, USA Shooting chooses the Olympic Team purely on a performance basis. For the Shotgun Team, one half of the Olympic Selection process was completed last fall on Colorado Springs’ Fort Carson ranges. Athletes carry over their scores from that First Selection Match and add them to the scores from the Final Selection Match in order to get their final scores and rankings.
In the first event to come to a close, it was a battle to the finish, as Collyn Loper (Indian Springs, Ala.) and U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Staff Sgt. Joetta Dement (Seale, Ala.) were neck-and-neck throughout most of the competition. It wasn’t until a tie-breaking round after the finals that Loper finally managed to defeat Dement by one target.
“That was probably one of the hardest things I’ll ever do in my life,” Loper said after the 25-target tie-breaking final. “I thought we would do a miss-and-out tie-breaker, but after I heard we had to do a full round, I knew I had to remain focused. I don’t think I have ever had to concentrate that hard for that long. Dement was a great competitor.”
The 17-year-old Loper, a junior at Oak Mountain High School, is naturally right handed. But being born blind in her right eye, forced her to train her body to shoot left, an obstacle that doesn’t seem to have any affect on her shooting.
In men’s trap, two-time Olympians Lance Bade (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Sgt. 1st Class Bret Erickson (Buena Vista, Ga.) crushed their opponents for two spots on the Olympic Team. There was no big battle for a spot on the men’s team, like there was for the women in this event. Bade and Erickson went into the final 11 targets up on their competitors. Bade finished with a 501 total score, while Erickson finished with a 499.
“I’m feeling really comfortable with how I’m shooting right now,” Bade said. “If I keep competing at this level, I not only will make the Olympic Team, I am confident I will make the medal stand at the Games.”
Erickson also made a run for the men’s double trap Team. And although all the pressure to make the Team was gone, he once again proved he was a competitor and secured his second spot on the 2004 Olympic Shotgun Team.
“I was almost too relaxed after I made that first Team,” Erickson explained after his second-day scores came back so much higher than his first days’. “I forgot what I was out there to do. I am too much of a competitor to just let someone else beat me on my home range, so I knew I had to go out and shoot my game.”
Glenn Eller (Houston, Texas) remained consistent through both days of the men’s double trap event, shooting a 590 total score and finishing one point on top of Erickson. At the 2000 Olympics, Eller finished in a disappointing 12th place, but looks at these 2004 Games as “another shot” for an Olympic medal. Eller took a year off college to train full time in Georgia for that precise reason.
In women’s double trap, it was no surprise Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) ran away with it all. Rhode, a two-time Olympic medalist, led the first day by a margin of 23, and increased her lead to 35 by the conclusion of the event. This will be Rhode’s third and final women’s double trap Olympic Team, considering women’s double trap event will be cut from the Olympic lineup after the 2004 Games. Rhode won a gold in the first Olympics the event was offered, in 1996, and took home a bronze in 2000. Rhode does hope to shoot in another women’s event in 2008, but “will have to see what happens.”
“Shooting is like walking for me, I don’t even think about it anymore,” Rhode says. “I still shoot a little skeet, but am not entirely sure what will happen after double trap is eliminated from the Olympics.”
The men’s skeet event was probably the most intense of the entire Olympic Trials. Leading the way into the final was Air Forces’ Lt. Col. Bill Roy (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit’s Sgt. 1st Class Todd Graves (Columbus, Ga.). They had been neck-and-neck since the Fall Olympic Selection, and both seemed intent on snagging a spot on the 2004 Olympic Team.
But USAMU’s Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Dulohery changed all that. Dulohery surprised everyone by coming into finals and running 25-straight. Needless to say, Dulohery (Columbus, Ga.) finished the finals on top and earned one of the spots in men’s skeet. The second spot eventually went to Graves, who after two tie-breaking rounds, just squeezed by Roy to round out the men’s Olympic Team.
Connie Smotek (Lyons, Texas) won with a fairly painless victory in the women’s skeet event. Smotek’s next closest competitor, Haley Dunn (Eddysville, Iowa), was three targets behind throughout most of the Trials. Smotek finished five targets ahead of Dunn. Athens marks Smotek’s second Olympic Games. Her first were in 1992 where she finished 25th.
“I just love shooting,” Smotek said after she qualified for the 2004 Olympic Team. “I think that is the reason I can continue to shoot at this level for so long. I love being on the range and I love to compete. I would do it forever --if I could.”
Remember to look for the results from Rifle, Pistol and Running Targets’ Final Olympic Selection Match in May, where shooters will vie for the remaining qualifying spots on the 2004 Olympic Shooting Team.
For more information, log on to http://www.usashooting.org, or email USA Shooting’s media director at sara.greenlee@usashooting.org.