Whitly Loper

Whitly Loper
Personal information
Full name Collyn Loper
Nationality  United States
Born (1986-12-31) 31 December 1986
Jackson, Mississippi, United
States
Height 1.64 m (5 ft 4 1⁄2 in)
Weight 68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Sport Shooting
Event(s) Trap (TR75)
Club USA Shooting[1]
Coached by Lloyd Woodhouse[1]
Medal record
Women's shooting
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
2003 Santo Domingo TR75

Collyn "Whitly" Loper (born December 31, 1986 in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American sport shooter.[2] She won a gold medal in trap shooting at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and eventually finished fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, narrowly missing out an opportunity to claim an Olympic medal. Since the age of fourteen, Loper has been serving throughout her sporting career for the U.S. national team, and trains rigorously under her longtime coach Lloyd Woodhouse.[1][3] Naturally right-handed, Loper was born blind on her right eye that urged her to shoot left.[4]

Having pursued the sport since the age of twelve, Loper started out as a successful junior with her third-place finish in the women's trap on her first major international competition at the 2001 World Championships in Cairo, Egypt.[5] Two years later, Loper boasted her early success to the sport by claiming the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, finishing ahead of Canada's Cynthia Meyer by a three-point lead 87 to 84. With her noteworthy triumph, Loper also secured an Olympic berth for the U.S. shooting team.[6]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Loper competed as the youngest member of the U.S. shooting team (aged 17) in the women's trap.[4] Five months before the Games, Loper finished first in a grueling shoot-off against Joetta Dement at the U.S. Olympic trials in Fort Benning, Georgia to keep her own Olympic place that she obtained from the Pan American Games.[5][7] As one of the possible frontrunners vying for an Olympic medal in the sporting event, Loper put up her own monumental effort with a qualifying score of 62 hits out of a possible 75 to grab the third seed in the six-woman final, but narrowly missed out on a potential medal by just one target that allowed her South Korean rival Lee Bo-na to snatch the bronze, finishing only in fourth with a total score of 82. Admittedly, Loper broke her family's promise not to take a quick glimpse of the scoreboard as a result of her medal failure.[8][9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ISSF Profile – Whitly Loper". ISSF. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill. "Whitly Loper". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  3. ↑ Axtman, Kris (16 August 2004). "Olympic shooter who overcame impairment". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 Weir, Tom (29 July 2004). "Teen sharpshooter hits with single vision". USA Today. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  5. 1 2 "This Teen Is Shooting Star". Los Angeles Times. 11 August 2004. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "Loper, who is blind in one eye, captures gold". ESPN. 4 August 2003. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  7. ↑ DeWitt, Robert (28 April 2004). "Gunning for the Gold". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
  8. ↑ "Shooting: Women's Trap Final". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  9. ↑ Prater, Mike (16 August 2004). "Loper misses target, medal; Olympic air rifle record falls". USA Today. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
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