2016 Olympics: U.S. Shooting Team Results Thread

[Krdshrk 3,877]

That was interesting - first time an independent won gold.  

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot 358]

Interesting story on Jay Shi.  The guy is a web developer, shoots cross-eyed, started out with an air pistol from Wal-mart and targets taped to a fridge....

 

Eye injury created an unlikely Olympic path for Jay Shi

AP 4:23 p.m. EDT June 14, 2016

 

PHOENIX (AP) — The shirt, with blue short sleeves and U-S-A written above red Olympic rings, remained stashed in the back of Jay Shi's closet yet at the forefront of his thoughts.

 

He would wear it one day. It just had to be earned first.

 

The shirt was more than fabric, thread, logo. It was a goal, only to be pulled off the hanger when a spot on the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team was his.

 

"It was out of sight but not out of mind," Shi said.

 

Shooting is a sport everyday people believe they could do if they had the right training, support and equipment.

 

It's a bit like golf: An average player can hit an occasional good shot, maybe string several together for a good round.

 

Shooting at the Olympic level goes beyond having a steady hand and a good eye at the local shooting range. It's a mental game, locking in on the 10-ring every shot, every round under heartbeat-in-the-throat pressure, tuning out the external and internal noise to focus only on target, breath, trigger.

 

Shi faced even longer odds.

 

He was 9 when the scissors he was using for a school project slid up a string and into his right eye.

 

Wanting better medical care for their son, Shi's parents moved the family from Beijing to United States, where a friend of his grandfather worked at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Doctors restored his vision, though far from perfectly.

 

The accident left Shi unable to see fine details, three dimensionally or judge distances well, impairments that would seemingly black out his future as an elite shooter.

 

Through years of practice, trial and error, determination overcame debilitation and Shi shifted his head, lining up his left eye down the sight of the gun positioned in his right hand.

 

It's called shooting cross-eyed, the shooting equivalent of trying to drive a car from the passenger's seat.

 

"It's incredible what he's been able to accomplish," said Bill Poole, one of Shi's earliest coaches at Phoenix Rod and Gun Club. "He put in the work to figure out what he needed to do."

 

Shi's parents appeased his early interest in guns by steering him toward archery, a sport he excelled at until his college workload became too unwieldy.

 

Once Beijing landed the 2008 Olympics, Shi was determined to return to his hometown and compete on the sporting world's biggest stage.

 

Shi didn't want to do it in archery and thought shooting might be his best chance, so he went to Walmart, bought an off-the-shelf air gun and taped a target to his refrigerator.

 

He hit the targets in his kitchen and in competition, too, finishing third in his first turn at nationals.

 

But natural talent could only take him so far. A lack of technical skill became an insurmountable impediment the deeper he went.

 

Shi fell short of the Beijing Olympics and again at the 2012 London Games after taking three years off — to focus on his career during the economic downturn — sending him spiraling into self-doubt.

 

"I wanted to quit probably more times than I can count," he said.

 

Giving up was not an option, so Shi put his analytical mind to task.

 

The 37-year-old web developer worked the angles on his cross-eyed shooting dilemma, creating a code to shooting straight.

 

He tilted his head centimeters to the right. To the left. Shifted his body right. Left. His wrist, too. He tore apart his grip and rebuilt it again and again.

 

"It was kind of like Edison trying to find a lightbulb," Shi said. "Then one day it just kind of fell into place; 'This feels good.' Then I adopted other ways into what I had just discovered. I was like like wow, this really feels natural."

 

Shi's confidence and technical skill began to rise after his ah-ha moment, mind and muscle memory narrowing into fine focus.

 

He earned a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games in his first international final and peaked at the U.S. Olympics Trials in April with a dominating performance.

 

Shi led from the opening round in Fort Benning, Georgia, and closed with field-crushing final day, finishing 26 points ahead of his nearest competitor in men's free pistol. Only when it was over did Shi break concentration; his father had to tell him he had made the U.S. Olympic Team.

 

"I thought I would be really excited, but I wasn't," Shi said. "I think it was because it took so long. When you have something in the back of your mind that you think about every day for 10 years, you can only dream of it and get by on desire and determination."

 

Shi's drive has led him to the Rio Olympics this August, where he'll compete in free pistol and air gun.

 

It also took him to the back of his closet.

 

The Olympic Trials over, Shi returned home and grabbed that blue shirt with the red logo. He lifted it off the hanger, slid it over his head and checked the fit in the mirror.

 

"I was very proud and honored to earn the right to wear it," he said. "I had a smile that lasted quite a while."

[10X 3,296]

What a great story. I wasn't aware of this.

Interesting story on Jay Shi. The guy is a web developer, shoots cross-eyed, started out with an air pistol from Wal-mart and targets taped to a fridge....

 

And now the world calls him an Olympian.

 

Thanks to the Walmart air pistol, NJ would have prosecuted him as a criminal.

 

BTW, if you are looking for a good, low cost, entry level precision air pistol, the Daisy 717 (or the slightly upgraded 747) has been the first air gun for a lot of competitors for the last 35 years. Nothing teaches trigger control and follow through as well as an air gun (thanks to the low velocity), and you can practice at home for a ridiculously low cost. You just have to burn a permit to get one in this idiotic state.

 

www.daisy.com/node/70

[T Bill 649]

Two words to that, "Road Trip"

[10X 3,296]

Women's 50m 3-position Rifle results

 

Gold: Barbara Englader, Germany, This is her first Olympic medal, and her fourth and probably final Olympics. Asked what she'll be doing next, she responded "drinking a beer."

 

Silver: first time Olympian Zhang Binbin of China, who finished just 0.2 points behind Englader.

 

Bronze: Du Lin of China, the 2008 champion in this event

 

U.S. Shooter Ginny Thrasher (Gold medalist in Air Rifle earlier this week) finished 11th. Sarah Scherer of Woburn, MA finished 33rd in the field of 37.

 

Up tomorrow: Men's 50 m Prone Rifle, and Kim Rhode tries to make history in Women's Skeet. There will also be qualification rounds for Men's Skeet and Men's Rapid Fire Pustol.

[10X 3,296]

Men's 50m Prone Rifle results: the U.S. Shooting Team continues to struggle

 

Gold: Henri Junghanel of Germany. Henri was a 4-time All American while shooting for the University of Kentucky Varsity Rifle Team, before returning to his native Germany. He holds the world record in this event, but struggled in the prelims, and was in 8th place going into the finals.

 

Silver: Jonghyun Kim of South Korea, winning his second Olympic silver, just 1.3 points behind Henri.

 

Bronze: Kirill Grigoryan of Russia.

 

American Michael Mcphail of Darlington WI finished 19th, and David Higgins of San Clemente, CA finished 40th in the field of 47

 

The 10 ring on an international 50m (55 yard) rifle target measures just 10.4 mm across (about the size of a dime), and matches are usually decided by fractional points awarded for how close to the center of that ring each shot hits. Shooters use a sling-no bipods are allowed--and iron sights.

[Krdshrk 3,877]

Kim Rhode took Bronze - first olympian to medal on 5 continents.

[10X 3,296]

Kim Rhode took Bronze - first olympian to medal on 5 continents.

Yes she did, AND she is the only person to medal in six consecutive Olympic Games. Those records are likely to stand for a very long time

 

Women's Skeet Final

 

Gold: Diana Bacosi, Italy

Silver: Chiana Cainero, Italy

Bronze: Kim Rhode, USA

 

Morgan Craft, Muncy Valley, PA, was the other shooter from team USA. The 23-year-old finished a very respectable 5th

 

Two days of shooting remain. Up tomorrow, Men's Skeet and Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol

[Mrs. Peel 7,157]

I was delighted to see that Kim Rhode's accomplishment was featured on the front page of MSNBC's website - a very nice article, too. Nothing snarky in tone at all. :-) Great coverage. Just thought I'd include it if anyone wanted to click through:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/olympics/kim-rhode-wins-bronze-makes-olympic-history/ar-BBvyHO7?li=BBmkt5R&ocid=spartandhp 

[10X 3,296]

Men's Skeet Final:

 

Gold:  Gabriele Rossetti, Italy.   The Italians have won 6 shooting medals in these games.

 

Silver:  Marcus Svensson, Sweden, who lost to Gabriele in the final shot of the final event.

 

Bronze:  Abdullah Al-Rashid, Independent Olympic Athletes (He's from Kuwait, but 2016 sanctions prevented them from fielding a team.  

 

 

Vincent Hancock, Eatontown, GA was the top US finisher.  Vincent was the Gold Medalist in this event in 2008, and 2012, but he didn't qualify for the finals today, and finished 15th.

 

Frank Thompson, Alliance, NE  Competing in his second Olympics  Frank finished 21st in the field of 32.

 

 

Men's 25 m Rapid Fire Pistol

 

Gold:  Christian Reitz, Germany, who shot an Olympic Record score to will the Gold

 

Silver:  Jean Quiquampoix, France  

 

Bronze:  Li Yuehong, China 

 

 

Keith Sanderson, Colorado Springs, Colorado, in his third Olympics, finished 10th in the field of 26

 

Emil Milev, Tampa, Florida finished 12th.  Emil won the Silver Medal in this event for Bulgaria at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

 

Here is video of the FInal in London, 2012.  It will give you a flavor of the event:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VAZ9zGjcHY

 

 

 

Up tomorrow:  The final shooting event of the 2016 Olympics.  Men's 50 m 3-Position Free Rifle.  Matt Emmons from Browns Mills, NJ will be going for his 4th Olympic Medal.

 

http://iwtsa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/010861.png

[10X 3,296]

The shooting events of the 2016 Olympics have concluded.   It wasn't a great year for Team USA, but we can celebrate Ginny Thrasher's Gold in Air Rifle, Corey Cogdell-Unrein's Bronze in Trap,  and Kim Rhode's Bronze in Skeet.

 

The results of today's Men's 50m 3-Position Rifle (Free Rifle)

 

Gold:  Defending Champion Niccolo Campriani of Italy, who earlier in the week won the Gold in Men's Air Rifle

 

Silver:  Sergey Kamenskly of Russia, who finished just 0.3 points behind Niccolo!

 

Bronze:  Alexis Raynaud of France

 

The two American shooters failed to make the finals.  Matt Emmons finished 19th, and Dan Lowe finished 28th in the field of 44.

 

 

That concludes my coverage of the games.  I hope I've given you all some useful background on the shooting sports (tell your friends!), and just maybe inspired a few of you to try out some of the international events.

[Mrs. Peel 7,157]

Thanks again, 10X! I personally did learn a lot actually. I wasn't familiar with a lot of these events and this piqued my curiosity and made me investigate more online.

 

Hmmm... and you were certainly low-key in your approach, but did I understand correctly that you were an Olympian? If so, do you mind sharing a snippet of your own background?  (Don't forget... it ain't bragging if it's true!)   

[10X 3,296]

Thanks for the kind words, Mrs Peel.

No, I'm not an Olympian; just a big fan of those who are. I did spend 12 years trying to make an Olympic team. I shot 3-position free rifle in college and got as far as the final selection round for one Olympic team, then I switched to free pistol and air pistol and managed to get to the final selection round in those events in two more Olympic cycles. I did finally make the US Team in a non-Olympic year, and got to compete in a World Cup, which happened to be in Rio de Janeiro, so it's been very cool watching these Rio games.

[Mrs. Peel 7,157]

US Team? World Cup? Damn, 10X! Color me impressed.  Thanks for letting me/us take a peek behind your screen name! And enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

[NJGF 375]

10X congrats on your own accomplishments and a big thanks for this report. It made it very easy to stay on top of the results and what events were upcoming. Thanks again for a great job.