Queanbeyan's Suzy Balogh during competition in the Women's Trap final at the London Olympics earlier this week. Photo: Fairfax supplied
SHE may have walked away from the impressive surrounds of London’s Royal Artillery Barracks having proved unable to add a second Olympic medal to her Athens gold.
But Suzy Balogh’s standing as one of Queanbeyan’s greatest ever athletes has only been enhanced after her fighting sixth-place finish in the Olympic women’s trap event earlier this week.
Four years after her heartbreaking non-selection for Beijing, Balogh proved without question that, at 39-years-of-age, she remains one of the finest shooters in the world.
And speaking to the media following her second and possibly final Olympic tilt, Balogh declared her London campaign mission accomplished.
“This was pretty much just to prove it to myself that I am not too old and too talentless,” Balogh told reporters after the event.
“I really can mix it with the best and be part of it.”
Balogh went into her Saturday morning final as the third-best qualifier and a genuine medal hope. But it all unravelled for the former Queanbeyan High student in the medal round as she missed 10 of her final 25 targets to slide out of contention.
Following the competition, Balogh said she is still uncertain what the future may hold but said shooting on toward the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro remained a possibility.
''I don't have plans of retirement, I don't think I had a bad day … I just need some sleep,” she told the Canberra Times.
“From here I'm just going to reassess whether I want to continue, maybe it's time to not be selfish and think about family.''