A U.S. Olympic shooter reflects on the future of the sport after her second consecutive Olympic appearance.
Mary Tucker, a Florida native currently residing in the Czech Republic, has qualified to represent Team USA in the women’s smallbore air rifle competition at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
“It’s nice to come from a country that’s so proud of its sports,” Tucker told Fox News Digital. “I always say I love representing the United States because it’s one of those powerhouse countries in sports, in most areas, but especially in sports.”
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West Virginia University graduate Mary Tucker competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Ju Huanzong/Xinhua; Fred Lee)
Tucker competed in the women’s 50m rifle three positions on August 1, where she scored 579 points and finished in 25th place.
Team USA’s Sagen Maddalena finished in first place and advanced to the final, where she won a silver medal.
“My career is not over,” Tucker said. “I still have a lot of time left, I think.”
Tucker, who won a silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Games, has soared in shooting viewership at the 2024 Games, even as she worries about the future of the Olympic sport.
“We always talk about whether [shooting] “Sport shooting is going to be removed from the Games,” she said. “It’s an idea that keeps coming up. I think it’s important for people to understand, especially sports fans, that sport shooting and other types of shooting are quite different.”
Tucker said “it’s a very safe sport” despite similarities in the basic principles.
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Mary Tucker won a silver medal for Team USA at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
A graduate of West Virginia University, she plans to focus her efforts in the near future on promoting youth participation. She also hopes that the IOC, as well as other associations and federations, will fight for sport shooters.
“There are opportunities within the NCAA, scholarship opportunities, for the Olympics, for traveling the world,” she said.
Tucker hopes to bring a new generation of shooters to Team USA, and to generate excitement, she’s launching her own coaching business in the near future.
“I’m passionate about helping the next generation come through,” Tucker said. “We need a lot more juniors to keep the sport growing.”
Before the Tokyo competition, Tucker trained five to six hours a day, at least six days a week. For Paris 2024, she has focused her training to maximize her life balance.
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Mary Tucker, a Florida native, taught herself shooting techniques in high school by watching YouTube videos. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
In addition to shooting practice, Tucker incorporates cardio, yoga, and strength training into her disciplines. Most importantly, she incorporates a transporting mental workflow into her mix.
“It’s something you have to work on constantly,” she said. “It takes a lot of visualization. You have to figure out the scope, what it feels like, how the pressure is going to affect you and put yourself in those situations in your head.”
With Tucker tucked away in Europe, she had the opportunity last summer to shoot at the same venue where she competed last week in Chateauroux, France, even though the athletes were far from the 2024 Olympic festivities.
“I didn’t feel like I was at the Games,” she said. “Although it’s unfortunate, and we would have liked to be in the village and close to the other sports, there was an element of calm.”
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Mary Tucker and Lucas Kozeniesky at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. (Ju Huanzong/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Tucker, a Sarasota native, humbly believes that shooting is a sport anyone can master if the motivation to explore and succeed is there.
“I could barely hit the target while lying down, which is supposed to be the easiest position,” she said.
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Tucker said that as a high school athlete, she would watch YouTube videos and replicate techniques before competing in local competitions.
“I always say it’s one of the sports, if not the only sport, that anyone can do,” Tucker said. “You really have to want to do it and have the motivation. I’m very focused and I’m constantly moving, but I’m able to stay focused for the seven seconds it takes.”
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