Colyn Loper Honored

[USA Shooting]

9 December 2004

UNITED STATES SPORTS ACADEMY HONORS 2004 OLYMPIAN LOPER
WITH ALABAMA ATHLETE OF THE YEAR AWARD

DAPHNE, Ala. – The United States Sports Academy announced today that Collyn Loper, a member of the United States Olympic Shooting Team, has been awarded the 2004 Alabama Athlete of the Year Award for her tremendous skill and accomplishment in her sport of competitive trap shooting.
You would think one of the world’s top shooters has the eyes of a hawk. Actually, Loper has been blind in her right eye since birth, yet has still managed to climb to the upper echelon of the shooting world – and she is only 17. In 2003, she graduated into the elite ranks of trap shooting by winning the women’s trap event at the 14th Pan American Games in Santo Domingo. A resident of Indian Springs, Ala., she won a spot on the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team this past summer and competed at the Olympic Games in Athens. The Oak Mountain High School senior finished fourth in the trap shooting competition - one shot behind bronze medalist Lee Bo-na of South Korea. Loper was tied for third after 97 of 100 shots, but just missed medaling on her final shot.
“It would have been nice to go back with a medal, but just getting to compete in the Olympics has been good,” Loper told USA Today. “I’m 17 and just made a final at the Olympics. I can’t complain.”
Still a teenager, she should have plenty of chances to win an Olympic medal in the years ahead. Especially remarkable about her accomplishments, is that she is right-handed, but the impairment to her right eye has forced her to develop her skills as a left-handed shooter.
The Academy presents awards each year to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sports, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas. The awards have expanded over the years to honor exemplary achievement in coaching, all-around athletic performance, courage, humanitarian activity, fitness and media, as well as the top professional athletes of the year.
The United States Sports Academy, “America’s Sports University,” is an independent, non-profit institution offering sports-specific programs to students, teachers and administrators around the world. The Academy has a special mission to serve the sports industry as a resource in instruction, research and other vital sports-related services. It is the only freestanding institution of higher learning in the United States offering bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in sports science and sports management, in addition to its extensive certification programs.
For more information about the United States Sports Academy, call (251) 626-3303 or visit the Academy’s website: http://www.ussa.edu