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Rhode, Kim
- Three-time Olympian
- Two-time Olympic gold medalist in double trap (1996, 2004); 2000 bronze medalist in double trap
- Six-time national champion in double trap
- 2003 Pan American Games champion
- One of the country’s most decorated female shooters
- Began hunting rabbits and doves when she was 4-years old
- At age 10, she began shooting with her parents at the San Gabriel Gun Club and by the time she was 12, spent six weeks on an African safari
- Got her competitive start in American skeet and won her first championships at age 13, gaining national attention
- Was the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Team in 1996 at age 17 (she just had her birthday the week before) and the youngest female gold medallist in Olympic shooting history
- National team member since 1992
- Studying to be a veterinarian at Cal Poly Pomona
- Has made a public service announcement on safe and ethical hunting for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Shot a 400-pound bear in Northern California
- Enjoys surfing and restoring old cards (She is working on two 1945 Ford pickups and a 1965 AC Shelby Cobra.)
- Member of the Safari Club International and the Women’s Sports Shooting Foundation
The most accomplished female double trap shooter in the world, Kim is a favorite to win the gold medal in Athens and is the U.S. only woman competitor in the event.
“I wouldn’t go if I didn’t think I had a chance of winning,” she said. “When you start competing, that’s what you always go for-- the gold. I think this Olympics is going to be the ultimate of all the Olympics, being at Athens, where it all began.”
This will be the last time that double trap will be contested in the Olympic Games---it will be dropped after this year. “I am not entirely sure what will happen after double trap is eliminated from the Olympics, “ she said. “Who knows? The nice thing about shooting; the oldest medallist in the Olympics was 72 and he was a shooter. But I just take it one Olympics at a time and one day at a time right now because you never know what’s going to happen.”
“It was a family thing to go out to the range and shoot," said Rhode. "Someone saw me and said, ‘Hey, you’re pretty good. You should try a club shoot.’ Before I knew it, I was in the Olympics and being the competitive person that I am, I fell in love with it.”
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Born: 16-Jul-79
Hometown: Whittier, Calif.
Resides: El Monte, Calif.
Sport: Shooting
Event: Double Trap
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