TOKYO –
Every American competitor came to Tokyo with numerous obstacles, from COVID-19 logs and jet lag to language barriers and inhospitable weather.
That was just the beginning of the list for USA Shooting athletes who have left a country with some of the loosest gun laws in the world to a country with some of the strictest. That meant more regulations, more p -erwork, and more control.
“This process is much bigger and more intense than most of the countries we’ve been to,” said Matt Suggs, a competitive rifleman before becoming CEO of the US Federation last summer.
Imagine a javelin thrower or surfer having to keep his tools in a locked box between exercises? H -pened all the time with Sagittarius. But in Tokyo, in addition to all the usual precautions, the 20 US athletes were also limited in how much ammunition they were allowed to bring. This forced the team to sign a deal with a local distributor who couldn’t replenish the thousands of rounds the team needed each day until it was confirmed that supplies had run out the day before.
“It takes a lot of ammunition to become a gold medalist,” says Suggs, who buys them by the pallet at home. “Every few days we place additional orders for more.”
Despite the obstacles, the U.S. won six medals – three gold, two silver, and one bronze, which is their second-best performance since World War II – ahead of Monday’s closing events at the Asaka Shooting Range, which is next to a military base 15 miles outside of downtown Tokyo.
“The more we can bring people closer to the sport, the less they identify gun ownership with what they see on the evening news.”
Matt Suggs, USA Shooting CEO
“USA Shooting is improving in almost every area and we’re becoming a better team,” said Mary Tucker, who won a silver medal in the mixed team air rifle with Lucas Kozeniesky. “I hope this continues to spark people’s interest in the sport.
“There’s not much interest in shooting in the US so let’s hope we get our medal count down to … [six] will help. “
But if the popularity of shooting falls short, it is less a question of Olympic success than an image problem in a deeply polarized country where gun violence and gun control are hot topics.
“Shooting in general has a negative connotation in the US,” said James Hall, 37, who competed in Tokyo on the 10-meter air pistol team and at individual events.
Firearms are so widespread in the U.S. that there are more guns than people out there, according to a 2018 report by the Swiss Small Arms Survey. But only a fraction of these firearms are used for competitive shooting. For example, we -ons were responsible for nearly 12,000 deaths and more than 23,000 injuries in the first seven months of this year, reports the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research organization.
Coverage of the Tokyo Olympics
That is an average of 112 injuries and 56 deaths per day or ten times as many deaths as Olympic medals every 24 hours. The US is well on its way to surpassing 19,402 gun deaths last year, the highest in more than two decades.
Hall says education is the best way to counter this.
“Gun training is really important,” said Hall, who worked as a firearms instructor. “I will be working with many children in the US to teach them the basics of firearms safety and the concentration and concentration so that someone in the US can keep up with my level.”
Two other members of the Olympic team – Kozeniesky and skeet shooter Vinny Hancock – also teach the sport.
The culture in competitive shooting is changing and getting younger, said Suggs, with two 20-year-olds – Tucker and Will Shaner, the 10-meter air rifle champion – who won medals in Tokyo. And Suggs said the young US team, which includes 20-year-old Henry Leverett, his 21-year-old brother Jack and Austen Smith, 20, is interested in countering the negative stereotypes surrounding their sport.
US shooter Will Shaner raises his rifle after winning gold and setting an Olympic record in the 10-meter air rifle final of the Tokyo Games.
(Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
“It’s all about shooting, shooting p -er targets,” said Suggs, who made high-profile gun safety announcements during his competition. “It’s not silhouettes or anything to do with combat.”
“That [public] The focus is too much on guns that look scary and guns you see on TV shows that are used to commit crimes or the news that are used to commit crimes, ”he added. “Our athletes … understand that they have a role to play in promoting the correct and responsible use of firearms.”
Achieving this is essential if USA Shooting hopes to continue winning Olympic medals.
“Going out and shooting a round of skeet or a round of tr – isn’t a controversial one,” said Suggs. “The more we can bring people closer to the sport, the less they identify gun ownership with what they see on the evening news.”
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