Team USA shooters aiming for Tokyo
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Competitive shooting: It's an Olympic sport, but doesn't always get the coverage it deserves.
Did you know the U.S. fields a deeply talented women's team? But while there's a plethora of talented shooters trying out for Team USA, only two will make the Games.
Skeet shooter Kim Rhode has brought home a medal from the Summer Olympics every four years since 1996. And now two women who train right here in Colorado Springs are vying for a spot on the team.
"For me being ranked so high on the world level and I just haven't made the Olympic team yet, so I keep coming back and I am really excited to get it done," says Caitlin Conner.
This year could be the best one yet for 29-year-old Caitlin Conner. She got married last month to trap shooter Dale Royer, and the couple is now eyeing Tokyo.
"It's been a really good year so far, I'm really looking forward to it," says Conner. "He's sitting pretty good for the Olympics as well. They take two men trap shooters so hopefully, he can get it done too."
Caitlin is the reigning World Champion, coming in right ahead of shooting legend and close friend, Kim Rhode.
"She definitely is a legend, for sure," says Conner. "She and I are really good friends. We've literally traveled all over the world together."
"We are competitors out there on the line, but first and foremost we are friends off the line," says Kim Rhode.
Kim achieved an unprecedented feat of winning a medal at six straight Summer Games, three of which are gold. Now the 40-year-old is shooting for seven out of seven.
"I'm actually training right now anywhere from 500-1000 rounds a day seven days a week," says Rhode. "I am really just basically eliminating those fears that I have may have in my head whether it be of a certain target or just within myself."
After years of practice, Kim says she's shooting the best she ever has and is targeting another gold. But it's not going to be easy because only two make the Olympic team. And up-and-coming shooting star Sam Simonton is also contending for a spot.
"My goal is to break every target or as many as I can and that is a good goal for me," said Simonton. "The team, of course, is important and going to the Olympics, but realistically this is the same competition we have every year."
The 20-year-old has idolized Kim and Caitlin for years now and hopes to represent the United States with one of them in Tokyo.
"It is really cool that we have the depth that we have in the United States," says Simonton.
"I went from being the youngest person on the team to now one of the oldest people on the team," says Rhode.
The shooting veteran has come full circle and no matter who qualifies for the games, she is humbled by all the talent around her.
"It's not about me or whoever goes, but it's about the USA and at the end of the day I know we are all pushing each other and do the best we can and now we have to see what happens," says Rhode.
Conner and Rhode say they have no plans for retiring anytime soon. They say if they can see they can shoot.
Rhode is really hoping to compete at the L.A. Games in 2028 because that is her hometown and where she still trains to this day.
As for Simonton, she wants to go another Olympic cycle and then dreams about going off to medical school.
