Greetings, everyone, and wel- come to the Year in Review! First, I’d like send a sincere thank you to our sponsors, donors, volun- teers, family, friends, staff and my teammates. It’s a long journey from the last Olympic Games to the next and all of these people play an extremely vital role in our success as a team—your support does not go unnoticed! The Olympic Games is a unique experience for a variety of reasons. At the heart of it all, it’s the reason for our existence as an organization and it’s the main thing all of us athletes train for and look forward to. It’s what we all dream about. The Olympics is also special for us as a team because it’s one of the few times during the quadrennial when all three shooting disciplines are together in one place. It’s so exciting because you know these teammates are sharp and at the top of their game, so every day there’s a very good chance one or two of them are going to make a final and perhaps make history. The last four years have been
interesting, to say the least. Per- sonally, I had several mountains to climb just to make the Olympic Team. Our daughter, Julie, was born in 2009, which was abso- lutely wonderful, but life gets chal- lenging when mom and dad are still trying to compete internation- ally and be parents. Many times I had to be away from Katy and Julie for three to seven weeks at a time because of training camps and competitions. We spent two years in northern Minnesota trying to build a new life as a family, but we had issues getting access to
the shooting range, so we moved back to Colorado. Then, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2010, which led to surgery and recovery. On top of that, I’ve had problems with back pain in the standing position, as well as problems finding a smallbore rifle that shot well. So many times it seemed that if something could go wrong, it did. As frustrating and depressing as it was at times, I refused to give up and lose hope. Needless to say, I was relieved to make my third Olympic Team after all of this. At the Olympics, I knew I was not at my very best. With all the setbacks, there was no way I could have been as prepared as I wanted. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. I knew the world was going to be watching me. Shooting 3X40 in London was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life and I’m incredibly thankful that I had the guts to stand there, make something of it and walk away with a medal I’ve been chasing for a long time.
The last four years have been full of ups and downs for many of my teammates, as well. Kim Rhode’s competition gun was stolen and she had to adjust to a new shotgun (the stolen gun was eventually returned to her and retired). Vincent Hancock con- templated leaving the sport, but was able to find the spark again. Sarah Scherer lost her brother. Several athletes from the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit served their country on deployments in Afghanistan. Others had the quad you hope for as an athlete—build- ing and improving throughout.
Year in Review Issue 2012 | USA Shooting News 11
Regardless, 22 athletes found a way to make the 2012 U.S. Olym- pic and Paralympic Team and represent the stars and stripes in London.
Beijing was a special Olympic Games with six medals for the shooting team. The atmosphere we created was special and it showed in our performances. It’s hard to follow that up, but we are champions. We can’t rest on our laurels because the rest of world certainly isn’t going to. In my opinion, we took the best team we have ever had to London. We won three gold and one bronze medal, and there were several other ex-
tremely inspiring performances I’ll never forget. It’s been an honor to repre-
sent Team USA and I’m proud of my teammates. Now, though, it’s time to start looking forward to Rio 2016. Our team is full of young, wonderful people who are extremely talented and motivated. The future looks bright, but we still have a lot of work to do. The rest of the world is already improv- ing on a daily basis and we have to be up to that challenge. I like challenges and I know my team- mates do, too. Let’s start building something even greater! I want to see something special in 2016!