Queanbeyan's Suzy Balogh says she is determined to shoot on until at least 2014 after her sixth-place finish in the Women's Trap final at the London Olympics. Photo: David Polglase
QUEANBEYAN’S Suzy Balogh has committed to shooting on until at least the 2016 Glasgow Commonwealth Games after her recent sixth-place finish in the final of the Women’s Trap competition at the London Olympics.
After an arduous road leading into London, Balogh had been uncertain as to what the future would hold in terms of her shooting career.
But speaking to The Queanbeyan Age on her return to Australia earlier this week, the 39-year-old said a third Commonwealth Games campaign was now firmly set on the agenda.
And Balogh said a third Olympic tilt in Rio De Janeiro in four years wasn’t out of the question either.
“I’ll definitely do Glasgow,” she said. “Whether I’ll be in Rio [in four years], we’ll just have to see what happens.
“I’m not making any hasty decisions about retiring. I still love the challenge of shooting and I just made an Olympic final, why would I want to give it up now?
“I shot brilliantly really [in London], it just happened that there were world records being shot around me so it just happened that luck wasn’t on my side on the day.”
The Olympic final of the women’s trap was claimed by Jessica Rossi in a near-flawless display after the Italian hit 99 out of a possible 100 targets.
Incredibly, Balogh’s sixth-place total of 87/100 was just one target less than her gold medal winning performance in Athens and would have been enough to secure bronze at Beijing in 2008.
The Queanbeyan native had been on track to add to her Athens gold after sitting in third-place on the standings following the three preliminary rounds where she shot a personal best 72 of 75 targets.
But the 39-year-old admits she “crashed” physically and emotionally in the final having been forced to battle against the elements simply to make it that far in the competition.
“I had to work so hard for the first two rounds that towards the end of the day I just lost my timing,” she said.
“My first round was in torrential rain and in the second round I was working hard in changing light and wind. The mental focus it takes to get absolutely stuck into something at that level for 40 minutes just takes its toll.
“The last round of the preliminary rounds I started to lose my timing and still managed to shoot a perfect score so I was on an exhausted high basically. Then there was a three-hour break before the final and I just crashed.”
While Balogh says she will now be taking a short break from competition, the two-time Olympian is already eyeing off the Women’s Double Trap and Skeet Shooting events in 2014 with both set to make their returns to the Commonwealth Games program in Glasgow.