Sarasota Olympic shooter's specialty, explained

A breakdown of the Olympic sport kicking off the games, plus news on another Sarasotan headed to Tokyo — in a management capacity.

By Ryan Kohn
| 10:41 a.m. July 7, 2021

Sarasota shooter Mary Tucker, here competing with the University of Kentucky, will participate in three Rifle events at the Tokyo Olympics. Photo courtesy NCAA Photos.

Sarasota
Sports

Take a breath, pull a trigger and hit a target, then repeat.

On first blush, the shooting events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — called such because organizers want the event to act as a "light at the end of the tunnel" for the pandemic era — seem simple enough. Dig deeper and you might find yourself confused between different types of rifles and shooting positions while watching, and with Sarasota's own Mary Tucker leading the US charge, people will want to know what's going on.

Consider it done

While you know about the four Sarasota athletes going to the Tokyo Olympics, there's another member of the community attending in a management capacity.

Marsha Seagrave, a 49-year-old counselor at Sarasota Military Academy, will serve as manager of the US women's track and field team. It is a role Seagrave also served at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Seagrave competed in track and field at St. Johns University and has coached the sport at the high school level, including at IMG Academy. She's also an official with USA Track and Field. She knows the sport well. When Seagrave decided to apply to be an athlete liaison with Team USA in 2004, they saw she was qualified and brought her on board.

From there, Seagrave said, she was "in the pool." Though she has to apply each time a big event comes around, her experience gives her an advantage. Her first time managing a team was at the 2015 IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas. Team representatives were so impressed, they persuaded her to apply for the same position at the 2016 Rio games. It's been a whirlwind since then, Seagrave said, though her duties stay the same no matter the scale of the event.

Those duties include making sure athletes are in the call room on time, taking care of transportation, making sure everyone's hotel room situation is correct and other logistical challenges.

"My job is to make sure the athletes don't have to worry about anything other than their events," Seagrave said. "I take my job very seriously. In the end, it really does come down to our medals and how our athletes perform.

"Our mission is to win as many medals as we can. I think we are going to win everything."

Shooting is one of the oldest events in the field, having been held for the first time in 1896, considered to be the first modern Olympics. Back then, however, only men were allowed to compete. Women were not allowed to enter shooting events until the 1968 games in Mexico City, and separate men's and women's events were not created until the 1984 games in Los Angeles.

The United States is the premier shooting country in the world, having won 110 medals (54 gold). To put that in perspective, China has won the second-most shooting medals. They have 56 total (22 gold).

There are 15 shooting events at the Olympics, broken into three areas of expertise: rifle, pistol and shotgun. Those three areas are then broken down even further. Tucker, a Sarasota Military Academy graduate, competes in rifle.

She is ranked No. 2 in the world in the women's 10-meter air rifle discipline by the International Shooting Sport Federation, the sport's governing body. The air rifle events use precision .177 caliber rifles and pellets. The size, weight and attachments of the rifle are all strictly controlled so no one gets an advantage.

Shooters will fire their rifles from 10 meters away in a standing position. The more shots that hit close to the target's bullseye, the more points the shooter receives. Shooters often use relaxation techniques to slow their heartbeat when shooting in order to stabilize their bodies as much as possible and gain accuracy.

In addition to the 10-meter air rifle, Tucker will also compete in a mixed team air rifle event alongside male teammates.

Tucker's other event is the women's 50-meter rifle three-positions. Unlike air rifles, smallbore rifles are firearms and use .22 long rifle ammunition. This event will also test Tucker's ability to control her body. Like the name implies, the event moves shooters through three positions: standing, kneeling and prone.

Pistol events are much like the rifle events in that they use stationary targets. Shotgun events, however, ask competitors to hit targets flying though the air.

Tucker and the women's 10-meter air rifle will kick off the Tokyo Olympics and be the first medal awarded on July 24. The mixed 10-meter air rifle competition will be held July 27 and the women's 50-meter rifle three-positions will be held July 31.

author

Ryan Kohn

Ryan Kohn is the sports editor for Sarasota and East County and a Missouri School of Journalism graduate. He was born and raised in Olney, Maryland. His biggest inspirations are Wright Thompson and Alex Ovechkin. His strongest belief is that mint chip ice cream is unbeatable.