OLYMPICS UPDATE: RHODE FROM HERE PAVED GOLD OAK TREE MEMBER HITS STRIDE.Byline: Mirjam Swanson Staff Writer MARKOPOULO, Greece - Just as she did Thursday, Kim Rhode Kimberly "Kim" Susan Rhode (born July 16, 1979) is an American double trap and skeet shooter. A California native, she is a two-time Olympic gold medal winner and six-time national champion in double trap. She was the youngest member of the U.S. is going to take her best shot when it comes to competing at the Beijing Olympics four years from now. The catch is that it won't be in the event she's best at. The double trap Double Trap is a clay pigeon shooting sport, one of the ISSF shooting events. Participants use a shotgun to attempt to break a clay disk flung away from the shooter at high speed. The layout of double trap shooting is similar to that of trap shooting. event, in which the 25-year-old shooting sensation from El Monte El Monte (ĕl mŏn`tē), city (1990 pop. 106,209), Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1912. A residential, industrial, and commercial city in the San Gabriel Valley, El Monte manufactures furniture, electronic equipment, semiconductors, won her second gold and third Olympic medal Wednesday, no longer will be included in the Olympics. So Rhode will focus on either trap or skeet shooting skeet shooting Shooting sport using moving targets. Marksmen use shotguns to shoot at clay targets (pigeons) hurled into the air by spring devices called traps. It differs from trapshooting in that skeet traps are set at two points on the field and targets may be thrown , the latter of which she got a flavor of Thursday at the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre The Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre was the site of the shooting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. The venue is located in Markópoulo, on the outskirts of the eastern suburbs of Athens. . Rhode qualified for the skeet skeet: see shooting. final in by winning a preliminary shoot-off with Democratic People's Republic People's Republic n. A political organization founded and controlled by a national Communist party. of Korea's Yon Ok Ri. In the final, Rhode missed twice, on her fourth and 10th attempts, to finish fifth in the world, six shots behind gold medalist Diana Igaly of Hungary, who was a perfect 25 of 25. American Connie Smotek finished sixth, with a 23-for-25 mark in the last round. ``I hadn't practiced skeet at all,'' said Rhode, who was in Thursday's competition by having posted the minimum qualifying score at a previous event this season. ``I shoot skeet for fun, that's why I can't be mad. Because really, I did well.'' Rhode had made the double trap event her focus in the months leading up to the Games. Her preparation for skeet wasn't even with the same targets used on the international stage. So her participation in the event was primarily for experience's sake. Not that Rhode is a complete novice. When she was 13, she won the world championship in American skeet, a discipline in which targets are softer and move between 50-60 mph. The international version of the event is more difficult, with targets moving between 70-80 mph. In trap competition, a sole target - or ``bird'' - travels away from a shooter. In the no-longer Olympic double trap, two targets move away from a shooter in different directions, after a one- to three-second delay. In skeet, targets move horizontally in front of shooters, who must have impeccable timing to hit the mark. ``I know I can shoot skeet,'' said Rhode, the only Californian on this year's 21-member U.S. shooting team. ``The challenge is that it's something I'm just starting.'' Considering Rhode's international success, and her relative youth in a sport where the average age is 32, it's possible she is, in fact, just starting. ``I don't want to make any promises,'' Rhode said. ``But I know what's in the cards. I just have to pick an event to train in. I'll probably do trap as a main event - or maybe I'll do skeet. I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. .'' Nor does Rhode know what to make of all the attention she's received since her victory - extending, she has heard, all the way back to Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . At Newhall's Oak Tree Gun Club, where she trains, club owner Jim Mitchell's phone has been ringing off the hook with calls from supporters and local media. Mitchell lent a substantial hand to Rhode's preparation for her third Olympics, spending $30,000 to build her a miniature double trap range at his club, where Rhode has been practicing every day, six hours a day. Rhode said she had not yet spoken with Mitchell, but through the grapevine Grapevine - A distributed system project. , she got word that ``he was ecstatic.'' Rhode plans to spend the next few days exploring a Greek island or two with her parents, Richard and Sharon, and boyfriend, Mike Harryman. They will head home on Monday. ``I'm kind of nervous to go back now,'' Rhode said. ``I'm not sure what to expect. It's all good, there's just a lot of things going on. But it's definitely all good.'' Mirjam Swanson, (909) 386-3865 mirjam.swanson(at)sbsun.com |
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