Rifle: Hammond Summer Olympics Bound
June 05, 2008 02:28 PM | General
June 5, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University Rifle Coach Jon Hammond will represent Great Britain in three rifle events in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.
A native of Aberdeen, Scotland, Hammond will be the lone member of the British team and will compete in the 50m prone, the 60-shot air rifle and three-position.
“It’s obviously exciting,” Hammond says. “It’s a bit of a relief that the selection is finalized and I know I’m going. The excitement is building and the realization that this is actually going to happen is there now.”
Hammond, who recently competed in World Cup competition in Munich and Milan, qualified with a satisfactory “quota place” in the 50m prone. Since he is the lone member of his team, he also qualified for two other events. His training has begun immediately.
“It’s great publicity,” Hammond adds. “When I travel around and talk to coaches of other international teams and shooters, the conversation almost always turns to what I’m doing. There has been a great deal of interest about the team (WVU) and West Virginia. There are a lot of interested people throughout Europe. This is just a great thing for recruiting and I’m happy to be representing this school.”
