Shooting: Stanton sets sights on Beijing 2008

By DAVID LEGGAT

Sitting out the back of the Markopoulo shooting complex, Nadine Stanton was contemplating her future.

Having made the final of the Olympic women's double trap, it was time for a bit of quiet reflection.

At a Games delivering precious little for New Zealand thus far, her sixth place was an impressive effort, which could have been better.

A couple of slip-ups, which she put down to a loss of concentration, and a few bad breaks with faulty traps cost her dearly. Even so, she reckoned she had proved to everyone that she was a worthy Olympic performer.

For some, that would be enough, especially as her event has been dumped for the 2008 Olympics in favour of the single trap contest.

But the 28-year-old Hamilton student is not finished with this business yet.

She admits she has her eyes on Beijing. She wants a gold medal before she is done drawing a bead on the small, whistling targets.

Changing disciplines will be a nuisance.

"It is a big bummer because I'd decided to specialise a couple of years ago," she says.

"If I'd known, I would have stuck to the other one. There's a lot more angles you don't get in the double. I'm not very good at the moment."

Don't believe it, says her coach, Gavin Paton. She's better than that.

Paton, a straight-talker from Papakura, reckons it will take Stanton between six months and a year to master the single-target event.

"She's quite capable of it."

Double trap has two fixed settings, one each coming from left and right. The marksman knows where the targets will come out.

For the single, the shooter stands on a mark in front of three stations, all set at different angles. The target can fly out of any one, courtesy of a computer scrambling system, and the release is instantaneous rather than with a slight delay after the shooter calls, 'Pull!'

It's just as well Paton arrived in Athens a few days before Stanton's event. When he arrived, he found a shooter "pretty flat".

"It was a bit difficult. Her training before she left home was not that brilliant. It was cold, wet weather, but she slowly got herself together."

Clearly, Paton made a significant difference. As he had no access to the athletes' village and no accreditation rights, they had to improvise.

For example, Stanton would visit Paton at the New Zealand Olympic Committee house where he was staying. He would pull the end off a broom and have imaginary targets on a wall.

Paton gave a chuckle at this little training gem having become public knowledge.

"It's just line-of-sight stuff, working out where her eyes were looking. It was better than nothing."


Trap-shooting is not a sport that will make Stanton rich, but she loves the challenge.

"Since I qualified [for Athens] I have received some assistance. It's still very tough.

"But I've managed. I think when you want something hard enough you find any way you can.

"I wanted my medal - didn't quite get there but I wasn't far away."

And Paton's verdict?

"She shot a lot better than she did at the Commonwealth Games. She did well.

"It was a very good standard competition.

"This is a stepping stone to Beijing."