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Loper, Collyn
- 2004 Olympic Trials, women’s trap-1st (won a tiebreaker over the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit's Staff Sgt. Joetta Dement)
- 2004 National Championships, women’s trap-1st
- 2003 Pan American Games, gold medalist
- 2003 & 2002 world Championship team member
- 2001 World Junior Clay Target Championships, bronze medalist
- Collyn has been blind in her right eye since birth with a genetic disease called Colomba, that damaged her retina and optic nerve
- She trained herself to shoot left-handed to compensate for a lack of peripheral vision needed for shooting, but is right-handed in other activities … at competitions, she wears special glasses with the right lens blacked out
- A two-year member of the national team
- Is the youngest member of the U.S. shooting team and the only American to qualify for women’s trap
- Her bedroom walls are decorated with Annie Oakley mementos
- Began her sports career as a gymnast and a cheerleader, but switched to shooting by age 11
- Finished third in her first amateur shooting competition in Cairo, Egypt when she was 14. She shot a perfect round of 25
- Would like to attend Vanderbilt University and study chemistry
- Enjoys hunting with her father, who taught her to shoot by firing a BB gun at Frisbees in the backyard. Over Christmas 2003, she killed her first deer, a 200-pound ten point
“At school, I’m very much the gun girl,” she said. “They announced (over the PA system) my making the Olympic team, but it was just like ’Congratulations.’ No mention of guns. The teachers thought it was awesome, but the administration just wouldn’t admit that one of their top students was shooting guns for a living. If I wasn’t a cheerleader or playing football, it was like ‘No.’”
“They didn’t understand it is a safe sport,” she said. “That is what we’re teaching.”
During a spring assembly at school, city officials honored her for making the Olympic team by presenting her a plaque that read, “ Olympic Shotgun Team.” “That was the best,” she said.
"People argue that girls aren't supposed to be good at shooting. I still have guys that tell me that in high school. 'Come to the range with me and I'll argue with you. We'll differ on this one.'"
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Born: 31-Dec-86
Hometown: Birmingham, AL
Sport: Shooting
Event: Trap
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