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November 18th, 2009
 USA Shooting (USAS) has named pistol shooter Keith Sanderson and shotgunner Kim Rhode as the 2009 USAS Athletes of the Year. Keith and Kim were chosen based on the USAS selection procedure, a points system that rewards performance in major competitions.
Sanderson, a 2008 Olympian from Texas, earned the Male Athlete of the Year honor after an outstanding World Cup season in 2009, winning an unprecedented three medals on the ISSF World Cup circuit. Sanderson captured the gold at the Beijing World Cup, silver in Changwon, Korea and bronze at the World Cup Munich in the Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event. Sanderson also grabbed fifth place at the Milan World Cup. In addition, Sanderson finished in third place at the 2009 Rifle/Pistol Fall Selection Match at Fort Benning, Georgia.
 For the third consecutive year, four-time Olympian Rhode (Calif.) was selected as the USA Shooting Female Athlete of the Year. Rhode won two World Cup medals this year, claiming the silver in San Marino and the bronze in Munich in the Women’s Skeet event. Rhode was also the 2009 National Champion and finished first at the 2009 Shotgun Fall Selection Match, earning a spot on the 2010 World Shooting Championship team. Rhode finished seventh at the 2009 Shotgun World Championships.
The USAS also recognizes discipline Athletes of the Year, who earned the highest number of points in each discipline. Sanderson was the male Athlete of the Year for pistol and Rhode was the female Athlete of the Year for shotgun. USAMU member Michael McPhail was the top male athlete for rifle. McPhail had an excellent year in the Men’s 50m Prone Rifle event, capturing two bronze medals on the World Cup circuit and a silver medal at the World Cup Final. Jamie Beyerle won t women’s rifle title for the fourth year in a row. USAMU member Josh Richmond was the men’s shotgun discipline Athlete of the year. Richmond, the 2009 National Champion, captured the Men’s Double Trap gold medal at the 2009 World Cup and finished fourth at the Shotgun World Championships.
Photos courtesy USA Shooting.
November 16th, 2009
 The Modern Pentathlon is a 5-discipline Olympic event that combines Horse Riding, Running, Swimming, Fencing, and Shooting. Whether there will really be any “shooting” anymore is questionable if Pentathlon officials succeed in their plan to replace air pistols with laser devices. That’s right, the Snowflakes in Hell Blog reports that the UIPM, the international governing body for Modern Pentathlon, intends to replace air pistols with laser “pistols”, ostensibly to reduce the environmental impact of lead pellets. We think this is just a “feel-good” move reflecting anti-gun political agendas. Pentathlon air pistols fire tiny 7-grain pellets that are easily captured by bullet traps, so there is virtually no environmental risk.
 UIPM President, Klaus Schormann, defended the plan to replace air pistols with laser devices, stating: “The decision to introduce non-air pistol shooting was the second big step for the sport following the decision in 2008 to change to the combined run/shoot format. This is a significant development in terms of lowering the environmental impact of the sport.”
Sebastian, creator of the Snowflakes in Hell Blog, observed: “The reasoning of the [UIPM] committee is disturbing. I hope this doesn’t portend bad things to come with other Olympic shooting sports, whose environmental footprint is arguably worse.”
One Blog reader astutely commented: “It would have been trivially easy to mandate lead-free pellets, if the ‘lead poisoning’ argument were the real reason behind this change. Replacing air pistols with lasers instead of a much simpler requirement to use nontoxic shot suggests that it was the ‘gun-ishness’ of the air pistols, and not the environmental impact, that may have been the primary driver here.”
 EDITOR’s Comment: One wonders if the UIPM’s next move will be to replace fencing foils and sabres with Wii computer-game controllers — in the interest of safety. And shouldn’t the UIPM replace Pentathletes’ four-legged equine mounts with hobby-horses to reduce solid waste and methane emissions?
July 9th, 2009
 The July, 2009 edition of Shooting Sports USA is now available online (for free). Click this link to access the current issue. This should launch a special browser that displays Shooting Sports USA in a familiar page-turning format, just like a print magazine. Of course, using the navigation buttons, you can also flip forward or back.
On pages 16-19 of the July issue, you’ll find an excellent article on the “Mental Game”. For this story, Shooting Sports’ Managing Editor Chip Lohman interviewed seven of America’s top competitive shooters, each of whom offers insights into the psychology of winning.
This “must-read” article leads off with 5-time Olympian Lones Wigger, who explains: “Many inexperienced shooters use different techniques in training than they do during matches…. Their scores are usuallly acceptable during training, but when they shoot under match conditions, they completely change their technique. In a match, they shoot much slower and labor on each shot. As a result, they tire quickly and score much lower than in training. [But] as shooters progress, they learn how to train smart and utilize their training to combat match pressure, which leads to improved performance in competition.”
Shooting Sports USA also interviewed Julie Golob, a past U.S. Army Athlete of the Year. Julie has won 9 world titles and 16 National championships in action shooting. Julie offers this advice: “Ideally, you want to eliminate the distractions that you can control. I make checklists so I don’t forget any important equipment. Good preparation helps set the stage for peak performance. I [also] try to focus on the positive aspects of what I’ve doing. It’s amazing how easy it is to dwell on a bad shot…. I find I am able to recover much more quickly by beiing proactive. I move forward and apply what I know (from my training) will correct the issue. Don’t dwell on the negative. It only increases the odds of performing poorly.”
Other top shooters interviewed for the “Mental Game” story are:
Larry Carter: Four-time National pistol champion Carter holds many records, and has won titles both individually and as a team member shooting both rimfire and centerfire pistols.
Cory Cogdell: Trap-shooter Cogdell won the Bronze Medale at both the 2008 Olympics and the 2006 World Cup.
Launi Meili: Winner of 8 gold medals in UIT/ISS air rifle and smallbore disciplines, Launi is the only American woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in smallbore.
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Jason Parker: Air rifle and 3-position shooter, Parker is a two-time U.S. Olympian who has earmed 10 medals in national and international competitions.
Brian Zins: Former USMC team member “Gunny” Zins is a nine-time National Pistol Champion who holds 26 national records in conventional pistol competition.
May 16th, 2009
 Lones (pronounced “lon-ess”) Wigger is the first and only American shooter to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. At the NRA annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, we were privileged to chat with Wigger at the Eley booth where he is answering questions and providing information about Eley products.
We discussed many topics, ranging from Cold War politics (he was not allowed to shoot in the 1980 Moscow Olympics due to the U.S.A. boycott), to barrel tuners. Wigger is a true legend among American shooters, having participated as shooter or coach with five USA Olympic teams. He also set many world records during his long shooting career. In the video below, Wigger talks about his Hall of Fame Olympic accomplishments, and offers advice to young persons getting started in competitive shooting.
April 19th, 2009
Competition at the second leg of the 2009 ISSF World Cup Series commenced in Beijing, China on April 18 and will conclude April 23. Sixteen U.S. rifle and pistol shooters will be competing in Beijing, which will be familiar ground for 2008 Olympians Jamie Beyerle (Lebanon, PA), Brian Beaman (Selby, SD), Keith Sanderson (San Antonio, TX) and 2008 bronze medalist Jason Turner (Rochester, NY). These four Olympians competed in the same venue at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing last August.
The U.S. is looking to add to their 2009 World Cup medal tally in Beijing, as Sanderson is coming off a silver medal win in Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol in Changwon, Korea earlier this week. Sanderson was an Olympic finalist and record holder at the 2008 Games in Beijing. For updated news and results during the Beijing ISSF Rifle/Pistol World Cup, please visit the ISSF website. Daily results (with photos of winning shooters) are found on the ISSF Latest News Page.
March 5th, 2009
Katerina Emmons, the wife of U. S. shooter Matt Emmons, was selected by a panel of international shooting sports journalists as the 2008 International Female Shooter of the Year. Katerina, who competes for the Czech Republic, won gold and silver medals in the Beijing Olympic Games in women’s air rifle and three-position smallbore rifle. Katerina opened the 2008 Games by winning the very first Gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle. She also established two world records during her outstanding year of competition. Katerina now lives in the USA with husband Matt (who finished second in the journalists’ voting for ISSF male shooter of the year). Katerina and Matt Emmons are now looking forward to the birth of their first child in April.
Photo courtesy Fédération Française de Tir
Korean pistol shooter Jin Jong Oh was selected as the 2009 Male International Shooter of the Year, ahead of Matt Emmons. Jin won gold and silver medals in Beijing in the men’s free pistol and air pistol events. USA skeet Olympic gold medalist Vince Hancock was third in the voting. A full report on the International Shooters of the Year and the vote totals are posted on the ISSF website.
January 29th, 2009
 Kim Rhode has competed in four Olympic Games for the United States, winning Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in shotgun events. She won those medals with a cherished Perazzi MX12 shotgun, a firearm used by Kim throughout her competitive shooting career. Rhode took her trusty 12-gauge Perazzi to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and became the youngest female gold medalist in the history of Olympic shooting. She won a bronze in double trap at the the 2000 Sydney Games and then won her second gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games. In her 4th Olympic Games, she won a silver medal in skeet shooting in Beijing.
Sadly, Rhode’s gold-medal-winning Perazzi was stolen last September in Lake Elsinore, California, when thieves smashed the window of her truck and grabbed the shotgun which was stored in a locked case.
The theft was highly publicized, and Perazzi generously provided Rhode with a replacement. However, she still missed the trusty MX12 that had carried her to so many victories. She told the media last September: “there’s just no words to describe what the gun means to me…(it’s) a part of me. I’ve traveled all over the world with it.”
Well, there is a happy ending to the story. This week, Rhode was re-united with her Olympic scattergun. On Jan. 27th, Rhode received a call from the Riverside, CA Sheriff’s Department. It turns out that, during a parole inspection at the residence of convicted felon Gergorio Macias, Sheriff’s deputies found the shotgun, still in the original case. The gun itself was undamaged — except for the fact that Macias (or the original thieves) had removed the stickers and decals Rhode had collected over many seasons of international competition.
Rhode was reunited with her Olympic shotgun at a press conference in California this week. She says she plans to use her “old friend” in her quest to compete at the 2012 Olympics in London. According to Jim Shepherd, of the Outdoor Wire, Rhode declared: “I’m planning on getting more stickers… and I plan to include one from London (the next Olympics). This has helped me decide that for the next Olympics, I’m sure going for it.”
November 18th, 2008
USA Shooting, the governing body of the Olympic shooting sports for the United States, has announced that 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Glenn Eller of Katy, Texas, and Silver Medalist Kim Rhode of El Monte, Calif., have been selected as the 2008 USA Shooting Athletes of the Year. Other Olympians receiving honors as Discipline Athletes of the Year were Matt Emmons of Browns Mills, N.J., for men’s rifle, Jamie Beyerle of Lebanon, Pa., for women’s rifle, and Jason Turner of Rochester, N.Y., for men’s pistol. Eller and Rhode’s names will be submitted to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) for consideration for the 2008 USOC SportsMan and SportsWoman of the Year awards.
 Four-time Olympian Kimberly Rhode, who was also the 2007 USAS Female Athlete of the year, captured her fourth career Olympic medal in Beijing when she brought home the silver in Women’s Skeet. She won the silver medal at the World Cup in Kerrville, Texas in May and finished in fourth place at the World Cup Suhl and also at the World Cup Final in Minsk, Belarus. Rhode won the Women’s Skeet event at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and was also the 2008 National Champion. Rhode finished in second place at the Shotgun Fall Selection Match, claiming a spot on the 2009 World Shotgun Championship team.
Three-time Olympian Eller, a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU), claimed the first Olympic medal of his career when he captured the Men’s Double Trap gold in Beijing this past August. He also claimed the silver medal at the Beijing World Cup in April, which served as the test event for the Olympic Games and placed fourth at both World Cup Kerrville and World Cup Suhl. Nationally, Eller finished in first place overall at the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Shotgun and also claimed the top spots at the Shotgun National Championships and Shotgun Fall Selection Match, landing himself a spot on the 2009 World Shotgun Championship team.
Photos courtesy USAMU and USA Shooting, All Rights Reserved.
August 12th, 2008
Competiting in his third Olympics, Spc. Walton Glenn Eller III of the USAMU has finally won Gold. Eller, a Texas native, set two Olympic records in the Men’s Double Trap competition today to win the Gold Medal — the first American shooting gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Games.
CLICK HERE to Watch Mens’ Double Trap Finals VIDEO. Eller clinches the Gold Medal at the 37’50”-minute mark in the video.
CLICK HERE for PHOTO GALLERY of Mens’ Double Trap with Award Ceremony
Eller, who finished 12th at the Sydney Games and 17th in Athens, entered the final round today four targets ahead of Italy’s Francesco D’Aniello with a qualification score of 145 — a new Olympic record. The previous Olympic record of 144 was set by Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
photo courtesy USAMU
Slow Start in Finals then Another Olympic Record
After missing his first pair in the final, Eller ended up shooting 45 targets and finished with a total score of 190 targets, setting another Olympic record and taking home the Gold. “I was so happy after I won, but I didn’t know whether to cry, smile or jump up and down,” said Eller. “After my performances in the last two Olympics, I really wanted to come here and bring home a medal for the U.S. This is definitely one of the greatest moments of my life so far.”
D’ Aniello took the Silver with 187 targets, while the Bronze Medal was won by Hu Binyuan of China with 184 targets. Jeff Holguin of Yorba Linda, Calif., finished fourth. D’Aniello and Hu both hit 46 targets each, the best scores in the finals. Two previous Olympic Champions, Russell Mark of Australia and Richard Faulds of Britain, were also in the Finals.
For complete shooting results, visit the official Beijing 2008 Olympic Games website.
August 11th, 2008
During past Olympic Games, it was difficult to find ANY coverage of shooting events, much less real-time video, or comprehensive match scores. In the past, the main broadcast channels might feature one or two events, but only if an American was likely to win a medal. For 2008, that has all changed. NBC has dedicated vast resources to providing in-depth, web-based coverage of ALL Olympic events, including shooting sports. On the NBC Olympics website, you’ll find the latest shooting event results, complete with scores, photos, and videos. There is even a special Inside This Sport section that provides technical information, with specifics on the firearms used, and the courses of fire. The NBC Olympics website is a treasure-trove of information, updated many times daily.
CLICK HERE for Main Olympics Shooting Web Page
OLYMPIC SHOOTING Feature Pages
INSIDE the SPORT (Rules, Equipment, Shooting Formats, Glossary)
SHOOTING VIDEO Page (Event Videos plus Background Stories)
NEWS and FEATURES (Late-Breaking News and Special Interest Stories)
RESULTS and SCHEDULES (Match Scores, Event and Broadcast Times)
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