Beijing Olympic Games

Rhode feels like beginner in Beijing

By Erik Kirschbaum

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. shooter Kimberly Rhode said she feels like a beginner in Beijing—even though she has won two gold medals and a bronze in her last three Olympics.

The Californian had to switch to skeet shooting when the women’s double trap was unceremoniously dropped after Athens only eight years after it was introduced. She won the first gold in Atlanta in 1996, got bronze in Sydney in 2000 and gold in Athens.

“It’s like starting all over,” Rhode told Reuters. “I feel like a beginner. It’s totally different, different gun, different pull, different everything.”

Rhode, 29, will attempt to win gold in skeet shooting on Thursday. To the uninitiated the skeet shooting and double trap may seem similar but, in fact, are completely different.

“It’s like a marathon runner switching to hurdles or a swimmer going to diving—the similarity is they both use a pool filled with water. Skeet and double trap are like night and day.”

Skeet targets move horizontally in front of the shooter while in double trap targets move away from the shooter two at a time.

In skeet shooting, the clay pigeons are launched across the shooter’s line of sight. They do not know when the target will be released and must first lift the gun from hip to shoulder.

“It’s the most I’ve ever trained for an Olympics. I’ve been averaging 1,000 rounds a day. I’ve also got mental training as far as trying to learn all the leads and pull points. A thousand times a day getting the gun from the hip on top of the shoulder.”

The Los Angeles native, who hosts an outdoors program on U.S. cable television, smiles a lot but cannot conceal she is annoyed about a decision “made by men” to scrap her event after Athens—especially as double trap is still a men’s event here.

“It’s scary,” said Rhode, who 12 years ago was the youngest American shooter at age 17. “But I didn’t have a choice. I had to switch to skeet if I wanted to compete in the Olympics.”

(Editing by Alison Williams)