ily is still going to love her all the same. Everyone knows she gave it everything she had.”
Support like that runs Kim with her son, Carter, and husband Mike. Photo by Sena Zimmer
of youth and talk about the sport she loves. She carries all fi ve Olympic medals with her, more show-and-tell now than untouchable showpiec- es, frayed and scarred from wear-and-tear. She encour- ages her fans to not only embrace in her success, but pushes them to wear the medals like glorifi ed su- perheroes. Mostly, she rec- ognizes that giving back is perhaps the most important gift of all.
“Legacy is such a big word,” says Rhode.
“It’s
about passing on what you love to the generations be- hind you. It’s about mak- ing sure my son and other people’s kids will be able to enjoy this sport and to en- joy the outdoors. I’m hoping that’s what my legacy will be. You should be giving of your time. You should want to give back. What am I go- ing to do with a shiny new medal when I’m 80. When I’m dead and gone, people
aren’t same impression
going to have the of this
sport or me if I don’t give them something to experi- ence. I realize the impor- tance of what I’m doing for my sport.” The fun she derives from
shooting comes in setting a goal, trying to achieve it and bettering herself, feeling no pressure from anyone other than herself to do so. She reaps the greatest joy from traveling with her
team-
mates to different countries and cities and seeing new things, something she hopes to be able to do with Carter soon. “The idea of doing this for fun is still as much a part of me as it was when I was 16,” Rhode claims. “From Day One we’ve al-
ways said that if she won, it was like the cherry on top of the cake,” adds her father Rick. “There’s never been any pressure
to perform
from the family. Whether she wins or loses, her fam-
thick throughout the Rhode clan, something that Kim ac- knowledges has been a vital ingredient in her successes. Rick is coach and favored target-puller. Mother, Sha- ron, is essential in keeping Kim’s busy schedule in order as phone answerer, e-mail returner, planner, scheduler and part-time provider for Carter when Kim is train- ing and traveling. Husband, Mike, is a stay-at-home dad who is a part of the band, Fishing for Neptune, and owns and manages a re- cording studio, Slat Sound, in their hometown of Mon- rovia in southern California. “Getting to the Olympics
is not something you do on your own and I get a lot of support from a lot of peo- ple,” Rhode admits. “From my family, to my sponsors and other individuals, what they do for me, it’s too many things to count.” With her place in this
sport and Olympic lore al- ready cemented fi rmly in place, it is right to wonder how the next adventure will play out. With demands of motherhood, stiff com- petition and health concerns, will she even make it to Rio? If so, will she be able to maintain her level of suc- cess, a bar that has al- ready been set higher than any American before her.
All this will play itself out over the next July 2015 | USA Shooting News 45
year, but this much we do know, her motivation to re- kindle the success she’s found at every Olympic stop since 1996 is as high as it has ever been. “When you have a pas-
sion for something and you love what you do, you want to get to a certain point or certain level. It’s just natu- ral,” Rhode concludes. “Your motivation comes for what is important in your life at that particular time. Now, my motivation comes from my son and being able to travel to all these great places with him, showing him that you can overcome obstacles, and teaching him to understand that hard work does pay off. Every Olympics you renegotiate what that motivation is. The motivating factor is having experienced that and want- ing to have that experience again. As Olympians, we’re like thrill seekers and once you have that taste, you want that sensation again. I’ve become addicted to that podium and the journey it takes to get there.”
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