USA Shooting Prepares to Finalize its 2004 Olympic Team

[USAS]

Pistol, Rifle and Running Target’s Final Olympic Selection Begins May 20

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.-- USA Shooting’s Final Olympic Selection Match, scheduled for May 20-June 3 in Fort Benning, Ga., will be the deciding factor for the three remaining disciplines –rifle, running target and pistol-- in who gets to go to this summer’s Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The U.S. Olympic Shotgun Team was already determined after its Olympic Selection Match in March.

“The Olympic Team tryouts are their own type of animal,” National Rifle Team Coach, Dave Johnson said. “Trying to keep this group focused on their August goal is my main concern. If these guys have been preparing and training like they should be, then actually making the team is just another step in the process. If the top shooters having been putting in the hard work, which I am sure they have been, then the tryouts will take care of themselves.”

With only a week to go, however, many of the Olympic Training Center athletes are heading south in order to train at the site of the competition, the Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) in Fort Benning, Ga. Coach Johnson will hold a training camp at the AMU a few days prior to the actual event, working with his athletes to keep them “calm, collected and confident,” a hard feat considering the years of discipline and sacrifice many of these athletes have put in to training for this opportunity.

For rifle and running target athletes, this is the one and only competition that decides their fate for the Olympic Games. And with over 40 men and 30 women competing for a mere 10 spots on the Olympic Rifle Team, it looks to be an intense week of matches. Running Target appears much the same with eight world-class shooters vying for only two spots on this disciplines last Olympic Team, making for a competitive match-up of athletes desperate to make their mark on a fading sport.

For the Pistol Team, which held a Fall Olympic Trials to take some of the edge off of this spring, there is definitely less pressure on the women’s side. In the fall, Beki Snyder and Libby Callahan gained such a large lead on their competitors, that it is basically in the bag for the two in women’s sport pistol. On the men’s side, however, there are still two spots that are up in the air. Jason Turner, an Olympic Training Center resident athlete, and Daryl Szarenski, of the Army Marksmanship Unit, both finished with a 1,185 tying for the top two positions. However, not far behind them is Brian Zins, from Quantico, Va., with a 1,181, and not far behind Zins are a whole lot of competitors trying to make an amazing come-from-behind rally.

“Just because we finished half of our selection match last fall, doesn’t mean that it won’t take superb shooting from the leaders to maintain their position,” Erich Buljung, the National Pistol Coach, said. “Whoever the two are that end up winning the men’s match will have to shoot some of their top scores to walk away with a spot on the Olympic Team.”

As is true for all the events, so keep an eye on the scores of the Final Olympic Selection Match by logging on to www.usashooting.org and clicking on the results link.