The US Army’s Amber English showed nerves of steel and then wept tears of joy as she struck skeet gold in the Olympic shooting range today.
And Olympic veteran Vincent Hancock soon followed her in a happy hour as he won the men’s skeet shooting to land his third Olympic gold medal.
Amber, 31, an Olympic debutant, broke the Games record in the Women’s Skeet beating the reigning champion Italy’s Diana Bacosi who had to settle for silver.
Such was her skilled shooting, she also beat world record holder Meng Wei of China who finished with the bronze.
Amber, from Colorado Springs, Colo, began shooting at the age of six, and could not even qualify for the US Olympic teams at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Amber English, 31 (left), broke the Games record in the Women’s Skeet beating the reigning champion Italy’s Diana Bacosi who had to settle for silver. Vincent Hancock, 32 (right), set an Olympic record with 59 points, four ahead of silver medalist Jesper Hansen of Denmark
The athlete honed her skills with the US Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia, where she is a first lieutenant, and working toward becoming an Army officer
Amber showed nerves of steel and then wept tears of joy as she struck skeet gold in the Olympic shooting range today
But she took the gold medal with 56 hits at the Asaka Shooting Range after entering the final in the bronze medal position.
Speaking after, Amber said: ‘I’m just like (in the) twilight zone right now. I’m just so thankful that it’s over. One more day of that would have been a lot. I’m very, very happy with the result, and happy I was able to perform.
‘I was extremely nervous. I just kept trying to take it back to my training at home, and the weather was super similar at home for me and I just kept trying to take the Olympic greens out of it and just do what I had to do to perform.’
The athlete honed her skills with the US Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning, Georgia, where she is a first lieutenant, and working toward becoming an Army officer.
Amber, from Colorado Springs, Colo, began shooting at the age of six, and could not even qualify for the US Olympic teams at London 2012 and Rio 2016
Hancock is a father-of-two from Fort Worth, TX, who has also served in the US Army
Amber said the highlight of her efforts was the second round of the final.
‘I knew I had to shoot 25 and it was just really buckling down and making myself do it so I was really, really proud of that.
Once I was able to do that, I knew (it would be) smooth sailing in the final, if I could just keep my composure and do what I know how to do.’
Amber celebrates with her coach after taking the gold medal with 56 hits at the Asaka Shooting Range. She entered the final in the bronze medal position
Her motto is: ‘Learn as much as you can from others. You don’t have to do everything they say, but you’re adding tools to your toolbox’
Shooting is in her genes too. Her father Michael English won four bronze medals in shooting’s 10m running target event across four world championships in 1982, 1983, 1986 and 1987.
Her uncle Butch also competed in international running target events. Her mother Ana and aunt Kim were national level rifle shooters.
She said: ‘Shooting has been a big part of my life ever since I was little. I learned how to properly handle and use firearms at a young age.’
Her motto is: ‘Learn as much as you can from others. You don’t have to do everything they say, but you’re adding tools to your toolbox.’
Vincent, who won gold medals in Beijing in 2008 and London four years later, failed miserably in Rio in 2016, finishing in a disappointing 15th position
Vincent, who won gold medals in Beijing in 2008 and London four years later, failed miserably in Rio in 2016, finishing in a disappointing 15th position.
But today the father-of-two, who has also served in the US Army, was back to his sharp shooting best to make it a gold medal Olympic hat-trick.
Missing only one target in the final round, Hancock set an Olympic record with 59 points, four ahead of silver medalist Jesper Hansen of Denmark. Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait won the bronze medal with 46 points.
‘I’ve done my best to try to forget Rio’ he said.
‘I was not in the right frame of mind. . . I let myself get irritated by a lot of things, get taken away by a lot of things, and it’s something that I’m aware of now.
Hancock, from Fort Worth, TX, considered quitting the sport in 2011 after his form dipped, but decided to continue following encouragement from his wife Rebekah
‘I try to be more conscientious of my thought process, of not letting things bother me. ‘
The shooter, from Fort Worth, TX, considered quitting the sport in 2011 after his form dipped, but decided to continue following encouragement from his wife Rebekah.
Hancock said: ‘I’m super happy. I’m so happy to be here. After the delay last year and with not knowing if this was going to happen or not, I took a lot of time off last year just to mentally and physically reset and I wasn’t going to believe it was going to happen until my feet touched down here in Tokyo.
‘And I’m like, “dude, you just won – again.” This is what we’ve been working for every day and this is the goal…but I’m not going to be missing that target.’
Today the father-of-two, who has also served in the US Army, was back to his sharp shooting best to make it a gold medal Olympic hat-trick
He added: ‘Being able to hit all of my targets on that last station, that was the most defining moment in the final for me because I already won, but I still wanted to finish strong and I got the final Olympic record on the way too.
‘You learn a lot as you get older and with age comes wisdom. It’s the same thing with experience. For me, I had to get that experience of knowing what it was like to not win to truly understand what it was going to take for me to stay on top, to get back to the top and stay there.
‘I’ve shot really, really well for the last three years with just the mindset of I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m going to be happy. I’m not going to let anything deter me from going out there and doing what I love to do.’
Silver medalist Jesper Hansen of Team Denmark (left), gold medalist Vincent Hancock of Team USA (center) and bronze medalist Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait (right) react with their rifles on the podium after competing
Hancock had to enter a shoot-out knockout round to enter the final after a downturn in his efforts.
He said: ‘I was perfect going into my last round. I was leading the whole competition, shooting great. And then, all of a sudden, the wheels decided to fall off and I thought that I was out.’
‘I came off the field and I’m like, “I’m done”.
‘I think it’s 1-2-3s that are going to be shooting off for the final and I just, in one round, shot myself out of the entire Olympic Games.
‘But then one of my coaches said, “No, no, you have a shoot-off. It’s going to be a big shoot-off but you could still get in”.
‘I was mad myself for a little while, just working through the process of understanding what went wrong.
‘I did some practice mounts, did some visualization and then made these changes in the shoot-off. I’m like, hey, I’m going to get in. I’m gonna want to win so I need to make the changes now and see how it goes, and it started working really good.’
Hancock had to enter a shoot-out knockout round to enter the final after a downturn in his efforts. He was leading the whole competition ‘and then, all of a sudden, the wheels decided to fall off and I thought that I was out’ he said
He added: ‘In Rio there were a lot of different things going on that I let get to me and I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind.
‘Coming into here, I knew that I had the chance to do it, I knew that I could do it and I was enjoying every moment I had.
‘I’ve just been so excited to get here, knowing that I’m capable of doing what I just did.
‘I felt so good throughout this entire competition, so happy that I was able to come out on top again and whether it ended up being a gold medal or just being here, I’m just happy right now.
‘The second that I knew that I was going to win, the nerves usually will just go away, but they stayed.
‘My wife has helped me more than anyone. In 2011, I was doing horrible in competitions and just really didn’t want to do it anymore. But, she told me to pray about it, think about it, and then decide what I wanted to do. After doing that I felt like this is where I belong and I re-dedicated myself to the sport. My wife has been my rock since I was 18 years old when we got married.’
Amber and Vincent celebrate after a double Olympic skeet glory for Team USA
The Olympians pose with the American flag. ‘I’m very, very happy with the result,’ Amber said
Silver medalist Diana Bacosi of Team Italy (left), gold medalist Amber English of Team USA (center) and bronze medalist Meng Wei of Team China (right)
Amber took the gold medal with 56 hits at the Asaka Shooting Range after entering the final in the bronze medal position
Shooting is in her genes too. Amber’s father Michael English won four bronze medals in shooting’s 10m running target event across four world championships
Hancock said: ‘I’ve shot really, really well for the last three years with just the mindset of I’m going to enjoy myself. I’m going to be happy. I’m not going to let anything deter me from going out there and doing what I love to do’
Hancock tried his best to forget Rio. He said: ‘I was not in the right frame of mind. . . I let myself get irritated by a lot of things, get taken away by a lot of things, and it’s something that I’m aware of now’
Abdullah Alrashidi of Kuwait won the bronze medal with 46 points