(GunReports.com) – As she stood on the podium at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, a gold medal around her neck, 17-year-old Kim Rhode never dreamed that 16 years later, she’d be chasing history across the Atlantic Ocean in London.
When the opening ceremonies are over at the upcoming summer Olympics in London, that’s exactly what she’ll be doing.
Few Olympic champions have maintained a level of excellence like Rhode. She has dominated her sport for nearly two decades. If she medals at the 2012 Olympics, she’ll become the first athlete in history to medal in an individual sport in five consecutive Olympic Games.
By collecting two gold medals, a silver and a bronze in four Olympic appearances, Rhode has cemented herself as one of the best competitive shotgun shooters in the world. Rhode practices relentlessly and uses incredible hand/eye coordination and physical and mental endurance to break flying clay targets, time after time.
In the world of competitive shooting, she’s at the top of a sport where the playing field is even for men and women.
“Like all Olympic sports, men and women compete separately, but competitive shooting is unique because men have no physical advantage over women. We can hold our own with the men,” says Rhode, now 33.
As a professional shotgun shooter, Rhode is proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover. After all, how did an average, American girl become a professional, at of all things, shotgun shooting?
Says Rhode, “Shooting became my passion and look where it’s taken me – I’ve traveled the world and I’m going to my fifth Olympics because I love to shoot.”
“We’re so proud of Kim for her accomplishments as a competitive shooter and we’re committed to supporting the USA Shooting Shotgun team,” said Brett Flaugher, Winchester Ammunition vice president of marketing and sales. “We’re excited about watching Kim attempt to make history in London, and since she shoots Winchester Ammunition, if she wins, so does Winchester.”
