As the sun sets on the final day of competition at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre, the Australian Shooting Team reflects on their most successful Olympic campaign since Rio in 2016!
Two finalists, a bronze medallist, and 6th and 9th places across the ten events the Australian Shooting Team competed in.
A four-time Olympian, a debutant athlete, and multiple games appearances from the 10 athletes who proudly represented Australia in pistol, rifle and shotgun events.
Closing out the ten days of competition was the Olympic debut event, Skeet Mixed Teams, with Joshua Bell and Aislin Jones representing Australia. The heat picked up, the sun was shining and the grandstand was again full! Bell and Jones shot a combined score of 141 out of 150, finishing in 11th place overall, and 5 targets away from a medal opportunity.
Shooting alongside the French team and speaking to the atmosphere on the range, Jones said, “Shooting with the French team, the atmosphere was unreal. Having the Aussies intermingled in the French crowd and trying to compete, I don’t think you can match that. It was an incredible experience.”
Bringing his Olympic debut to a close, Bell summarised his experience as, “Memorable”. Speaking to his key takeaways from competition, Bell said, “Confidence is a key takeaway for me. I am sure I am ten times the competitor walking away from this than when I came into competition. I can’t be disappointed. I have held my head high and did my best and unfortunately at the Olympics you need to make sure you always have your best day.”
Head of Delegation and Shooting Australia’s Chief Executive Officer Adam Sachs expressed his gratitude to the team. “I want to thank and congratulate every member of our Shooting Team at these Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Each and every one of them has demonstrated the dedication and professionalism that we have come to expect from members of an Australian Olympic Team.
“I want to pay tribute to Penny Smith and James Willett for making their finals in the Women’s Trap and Men’s Trap finals. On behalf of the entire Australian Shooting community, I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Penny for winning the Olympic bronze medal. We are all so proud of this achievement.
“We look forward to sharing the learnings from our Olympic campaign with the Para Shooting athletes and staff who will travel to France in a couple of weeks’ time. We wish them the very best for their final preparations, and their Paris 2024 Paralympic campaign.”
Competing in his fourth consecutive Olympic Games in the rifle events, and the most senior of the Australian Shooting Team, Dane Sampson commended his teammates for their professionalism, “I think everyone in the team was working in a very professional and respectful way. It was a really supportive environment and I think it was one of the most integrated teams in the four Games I have been part of. The support network around the team was excellent and I don’t think we as athletes could have asked for anything better.”
With the Shooting venue being at a subsite 270 kilometres south of Paris, Sampson said, “This was my first Olympic Games where the athletes have been based in a satellite village. I think this environment was very beneficial to producing high performance results as it attracts less disturbances and distractions, and less chance of being overwhelmed by the environment the Olympic Village can sometimes create.”
Talking to the quality of competition across the 15 shooting events the 340 athletes best athletes from around the world competed in, Sampson said, “The quality of competition has been extremely high and, in many events, higher than expected. The cut off scores required to make a final were also very high when typically you would expect them to be lower than a World Cup, but this was not the case for this Olympics.
This year’s Games was the 10th consecutive Olympics for Australian rifle coach Petr Kurka. “I have attended three Games as a competitor for Czech and 3 as a coach, and Paris 2024 is the fourth Games coaching the Australian Team.”
Talking to this years preparation and competition, Kurka said, “Leading into the Games I don’t think our preparation in Australia could have been any better. Then spending extensive time in Europe was also extremely beneficial in the lead up.
The two rifle athletes were very ready. The level of competition was high and what we expected as the Olympic Games has the best athletes in the world, and comes with a different kind of pressure.”
The Australian Shooting Team will now commence their departures from Chateauroux, with some of the athletes returning to the Olympic Village in Paris in preparation for the closing ceremony.
