Soldiers shooting for Gold

[USAMU]

; Army marksmen set sights on 2008 Olympics

By Paula J. Randall Pagán
U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, Accessions Support Brigade

FORT BENNING, Ga. – With the end of the 2006 Winter Olympics, the sports world now turns its focus to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be conducted in Beijing, China, in August of 2008.

Eight Soldiers of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit returned from the Athens Olympics in 2004 with memories, memorabilia and a medal. But between now and 2008, the USAMU shooters as well as thousands of other U.S. athletes in 29 Olympic sports will try to win Olympic Quota Slots for the United States to compete in the Beijing Olympics. For the 30 Soldiers of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit who are international shooters, the quest for these coveted Quota Slots has been ongoing since last year.

Since 1988, participation in the Olympic Shooting events is not guaranteed. Each national shooting federation must earn Olympic Quota Slots.

A shooter can obtain only one Olympic Quota Slot for his or her country in any event in the Olympics. A Quota Slot guarantees that someone from that country – not necessarily the athlete who earned it – can compete in that Olympic event. Each nation can earn a maximum of 28 Olympic Quota Shooting Slots; one each in Women’s Trap and Skeet, and two each in all other events.

The total number of athletes worldwide who may compete in the sport of shooting is 390, compromising 243 men and 139 women in 15 events. For the host country of the 2008 Olympics, there are reserved nine quota places for China in the 15 events.

To earn Olympic Country Quota Slots, every year, qualified shooters of each of the Olympic shooting disciplines participate in four International Shooting Sport Federation World Cups, as well as an additional international shooting championship. Hundreds of the world’s top shooters compete in these international events and many of the competitors are Olympians.

The CAT Games (Campeonato de Tiro de las Americas) is conducted the year after the Olympics, followed the next year by the World Championships; in the year preceding the Summer Olympics, the Pan-American Games occur. Not only can shooters win medals and set world records at these international championships, but they can also win Olympic Quota Slots for their countries to compete in the Olympics.

Currently, the U.S. Shooting Team has filled 13 of 28 available quota spots for the 2008 Olympics. The following shooters won Olympic Quota Slots: Sgts. 1st Class Jason A. Parker, James Todd Graves, Daryl L. Szarenski, Thomas A. Rose and Bret E. Erickson of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit; three-time Olympian Army Reservist Staff Sgt. Elizabeth “Libby” Callahan of Upper Marlboro, Md.; Vincent Hancock of Eatonton, Ga.; Ryan Tanoue of Reno, Nev.; 2004 Olympian Emily Caruso of Colorado Springs, Colo.; three-time Olympian Rebecca “Beki” Snyder of Colorado Springs, Colo.; Haley Dunn of Eddyville, Iowa; Jason Dardas of Essexville, Mich.; and Kimberly Chrostowski of Lincoln, Neb.

Parker, 31, and Szarenski, 38, each competed in his second Olympics in 2004.
“The Olympic competition experience gave me the confidence to shoot good scores anywhere in the world,” Parker said. “The highlight was making the Olympic finals and the Opening Ceremony was a wonderful experience -- all of the U.S. athletes were excited to walk into the stadium. Becoming an Olympian had been a dream of mine since I was a teenager and the Army gave me everything I needed to attain this goal. I couldn’t be where I am today without the Army and the Army Marksmanship Unit; they provided every resource I needed to be where I’m at.

“I tell young people who want to make it to the Olympics once you have a dream of what you want to be, make a plan and stick with it, and remember it takes hard work and a lot of discipline. I will train harder and smarter to be at my peak performance at the 2008 Olympics,” Parker continued.

Parker, an infantryman from Omaha, Neb., finished in 5th place in Air Rifle in the 2000 Olympics, barely missing a medal by seven-tenths of a point, and ended up in 8th place overall in Air Rifle in 2004 – less than 3 points away from a medal. The Soldier and his wife, Andrea, live in Fortson, Ga., with their son, Thomas.

Szarenski, of Saginaw, Mich., took 13th place in Air Pistol and 15th place in Free Pistol in 2004; he finished in 25th place in Free Pistol in the 2000 Olympics.

After his disappointing finish in 2004, Szarenski said, ‘It is better to compete and lose than to be afraid of losing and never trying.” But now, the infantryman said he is solely focused on winning the elusive Olympic Gold Medal.

Szarenski and his wife Amy, a former USAMU international pistol shooter, live in Seale, Ala., with their two children, Hannah and Luke.

This year, the shooters will have the chance to win Olympic Quota Slots at ISSF World Cups and at the World Championships. The World Shooting Championships will be July 21 to Aug. 5 in Zagreb, Croatia. Next year, quota slots will be available at the Pan-American Games and at World Cups.

World Cups for 2006 are: Guangzhou, China, March 25 to April 2 for Rifle and Pistol; Qingyuan, China, April 2 to 11, for Shotgun; Resende, Brazil, April 25 to May 3, Rifle and Pistol; Kerrville, Texas, May 4 to 12, Shotgun; Cairo, Egypt, May 16 to 25, Shotgun; Munich, Germany, May 22 to 29, Rifle and Pistol; Milan, Italy, May 29 to June 5, Rifle and Pistol; Suhl, Germany, June 6 to 15, Shotgun; and the World Cup Finals for Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun, Granada, Spain, Oct. 2 to 8.

The USAMU has 10 military athletes who are former Olympians – two of them are Olympic medalists. Three-time Olympian Maj. Michael E. Anti is a Silver Medalist and Graves, a four-time Olympian, is a Bronze Medalist.

Anti, 41, won the Silver Medal in Three Position Free Rifle in 2004. If not for an unfortunate mistake of shooting an extra shot in the kneeling position in the qualification round for which he was penalized 2 points, Anti would have won the Gold Medal; he finished a mere 1.4 points from the winner.

“Aside from winning the Silver Medal, walking into the Olympic Stadium in Athens for the Opening Ceremony is a day I will never forget,” Anti said. “The atmosphere is just electric. The crowd was amazing; they cheered the entire time we marched around the stadium.

“After I won the Silver Medal, it felt like a lifelong weight was taken off my shoulders,” Anti continued. “It had been a dream of mine for many years and to finally have my dream come true was an amazing feeling of accomplishment.”

Anti, an infantry officer, from Winterville, N.C., also competed in the 1992 and 2000 Olympics, finishing in 9th Place in 2000 in the Three-Position Rifle competition and in 18th Place in 1992 in the Prone Rifle event. He is attached to the USAMU through the World Class Athlete Program. He and his wife, Anne, live at Fort Benning with their two sons, Matthew and William.

Graves, 43, who took the Bronze Medal in Skeet in 2000, said, that although he did not win a medal in 2004, it was really great watching his teammate Sgt. 1st Class Shawn C. Dulohery shoot in the finals. He finished in 15th place in Skeet in the 1996 Olympics and in the 1992 Olympics, he took 11th place in Skeet and 29th place in Trap. The infantryman who is from Laurel, Miss., said he thinks he has one more Olympics in him and that his goal is a Gold Medal. He and his wife Tracy, live in Cusseta, Ga., with sons James and Cody.

Dulohery, 40, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., shot extremely well in the 2004 Men’s Olympic Skeet competition. He went into the finals tied for third place, just 2 points behind the leader. After the finals, Dulohery was in a three-way tie for the Bronze Medal, which was decided by a shoot off. Dulohery missed his first shot in the shoot off and ended up in 5th place.

“During the shoot off for the Bronze, watching the (target I missed) sail across I sky untouched was the lowest point of the Olympics for me,” Dulohery said. “It seemed as though everything went into an extreme slow motion once I pulled the trigger.

“Words cannot explain the feeling I had at the Opening Ceremony,” Dulohery continued. “The sense of energy that fills the stadium is incredible; you are simply in a state of awe. Just being able to represent the red, white and blue is truly a huge honor; it is a double honor to have represented all the personnel in the Department of Defense.”

The infantry Soldier, who lives in Midland, Ga., said his goal is to redeem himself in Beijing at the 2008 Olympics.
The other USAMU Olympians are: 1996 Olympian Lt. Col. Robert E. Harbison; two-time Olympian Sgt. 1st Class Thomas A. Tamas; 1996 Olympian Sgt. 1st Class Theresa E. DeWitt; and 2000 Olympian Staff Sgt. William H. Keever. Sgt. 1st Class Lance D. Dement, a 2000 Olympian in Running Target, is no longer an international shooter as Running Target was eliminated from the Olympics; Erickson, a three-time Olympian, is now retired from the Army.

(Formed in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to raise the standards of marksmanship throughout the U.S. Army, the Army Marksmanship Unit is assigned to the Accessions Support Brigade of Fort Knox, Ky. The Marksmanship Unit trains its Soldiers to win competitions and enhances combat readiness through train-the-trainer clinics, research and development. For more information on the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, contact the Public Affairs Office at (706) 545-5436, paula.pagan@usaac.army.mil or http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/amu.)

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