Athlete Message
By Vincent Hancock Two-time Olympic gold medalist
2016 is About More Than Just Medals
To all the members of USAS and the shooting sports industry, I would like to personally thank you for helping athletes like me achieve our dreams. The support we receive from peo- ple engrossed by the Olym- pic Movement has helped usher in a new age for our sport by growing our ranks with
ranks with y o u n g k i d s and
young adults. Our future lies with this generation, and by enlightening this group WR WKH EHQHÀ WV DQG VDIHW\ of the shooting sports we can change the way we are viewed. Having grown up around the shooting sports, I have a deep appreciation for the talent, dedication and train- that it takes to be this
ing that it takes to be successful in in
successful t
sport. No,. No, I’m no the most talent- ed; no I’m not most
I’m not
the most talent- no I’m no what
in the world. But do have talent, I am dedicated to winning and to my sport, and I am training as hard and as smart as I possibly
do ha ed t
and to my sport, and I am training as hard and as smart as I can.
There is very imery
There is one impor-
tant thing we can offer to the kids looking for a sport to love. By our ac- tions, we can dem- onstrate to them
Photo by ISSF 4 USA Shooting News | Year in Review 2015
train harder than any other athlete the world. But I talent, I
and no I don’t harder than ther athle
lete” shape; no I don’t
pic Ath- shape;
in what most would consider “Olympic e”
ould consider A
that they are going to get out of this sport what they put into it and to reach for their dreams. Dreams cre- ated my path and my goals. I knew at a young age that I wanted to become an Olym- pic gold medalist and that started me on my path. Of course, there will be people that tell you it can’t be done or you’re wasting your time, but those people don’t have your dream. This sport, just like anything else in life, takes time to perfect. If it were easy, everyone would do it. But more importantly, we want there to be opportu- nities for our kids to partici- pate in the shooting sports and that is why leaving an imprint on this sport is so important
to me and my teammates. As most of you know,
we encounter many misin- formed people who assume we are shooting “weapons” and that what we do is dan- gerous. A month ago, I was in West Hollywood doing a photo shoot and interviews where I was asked repeated- ly “What is the greatest mis- conception of your sport?” My answer to all of them was, “We don’t compete with ‘weapons,’ we com- pete with equipment that LV GHVLJQHG VSHFLÀ FDOO\ IRU either breaking clay targets or making a hole in paper/ rubber targets. In organized competition, we are the saf-
est sport in the world and it is because of our youth and outdoor organizations teaching kids, from a very young age, the importance and how-to of safety.” This is what we have to do and it’s my challenge to you: let the world know, both by talking and through your actions, that we are controlled, non- violent, and most of all, safe. Through this course of ac- tion, we can sow the prom- ise of a future in our sport for the generations to come. Heading to Rio in less
than a year, I have an oppor- tunity to do something that has never been done before and win a third straight gold medal. Most importantly, I have the chance to show the world who we are as a sport and have a global platform to talk about the shooting sports with the least obstruction to the truth because it’s the Olympic Games. Our future isn’t de- À QHG E\ WKH PHGDOV ZH ZLQ but what we teach our kids and what we show the world when all eyes are on us.
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