Looking back: Balogh's rise from prodigy to Olympic champion

Queanbeyan's most successful Olympian, without question, was trap shooter Suzy Balogh.

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The 48-year-old was raised in Queanbeyan, and took up trap shooting at the age of 15 with a 12-gauge Gamba (an Italian-made shotgun).

Two years later, in 1989, she would qualify for the National Championships and come away with wins in three events.

Shooting runs in the blood for Balogh. She got into the sport, she told the Canberra Times as a teenager, because "my dad has always been doing it, because his father used to do it."

Balogh's win in the National Championship was critical to her development, as it earned her selection in the Australian Ladies' Trap Shooting team.

At the same time, Balogh was also in the NSW Women's Trench Shooting training squad.

Despite her evident gift for the sport, it wasn't until a few months prior to the 2000 Olympics that Balogh really believed she could make it on the international stage.

After victory in the Women's Trap event in the Olympics Test event early that year, Balogh was named alongside men's shooter, Adam Vella, to be fillers at the Sydney Olympics.

Though their names and nationalities weren't listed on the scoreboard (they were selected to be the 18^th shooters in the qualifications rounds to allow a full rotation of shooters at five shooting stations), Balogh shot a score which would have qualified her for the women's final.

"It was a life-changing experience in that I only thought of myself as a shooter," Balogh said in an Australian Olympic Committee article in 2020.

"Seeing how the mechanism of the Olympics worked and how these people competed, it allowed me to realise they're athletes. You've got to put the effort in, and you've got to have the dream.

"It also allowed me to think I grew up with Michael (Diamond). I shot with Russell (Mark). I'd spent training camps with these guys. I've competed against them. I've really rubbed shoulders with them. So, it really inspired me, knowing it was possible to win a gold medal.

"I went from, I'd like to go to an Olympics to I am going to go to an Olympics."

With renewed passion, Balogh qualified for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, where she claimed a bronze medal in the Women's Doubles Trap Pairs alongside Susie Trindall.

While her desire to become an Olympian was stronger than ever, Balogh's experience in Manchester revealed some hard truths.

"It was brilliant that I got a Commonwealth Games bronze medal, but just about everyone else on the team came away with a gold, and I'm talking Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun," she said.

"I came away feeling like I hadn't put enough effort in. I needed to restructure my life, I needed to set more goals, I needed to be more professional like taking onboard sports psyches. I was always carrying injuries and I needed to get a lot fitter and stronger.

"It [Manchester] said, 'Suzy you're behind the eight-ball. Come on, pick up your game'."

Over the next 18 months, Balogh travelled the world and improved her ranking at numerous international events. By February 2004, she had earned selection in Australia's Olympic team.

Just two months later, however, an unlucky injury threw her aspirations into doubt, in a pattern which would bedevil Balogh for the rest of her career.

During a warm-up stretch at the World Cup in Sydney, she damaged two discs in her back and was immediately sent to Fairfield Hospital for treatment.

Though she couldn't stand, Australia's Olympic coach, Greg Chan, inspired Balogh to believe she could recover in time.

Indeed, she did recover and, despite the blustery conditions in Athens on the day of the competition, had a feeling it would be her day.

After shooting 66 points, Balogh believed she had failed to qualify for the final. She walked off the field and apologised to Chan for what she thought to be a sub-par effort.

"I came off and I was so disappointed - I thought I'd thrown it all away. I went up to Greg and said 'I'm really sorry, all the hard work that you've put into me. He said, 'what are you talking about? Get yourself ready, you're in the final'," she said.

Balogh qualified in first place by a single point, and, despite a scare from Spain's Maria Quintanal in the final, won comfortably.

According to a 2004 article from the Central Western Daily, Balogh had been told in 2000 that she was "too old and lacking in talent to succeed in shooting".

Four years later, she had decisively proved all detractors wrong.

"It's the best feeling in the world knowing all the effort you've gone through, all the time you spent travelling and on the range that hard work pays off," Balogh said.

A gold and bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne followed, but misfortune soon dashed any further hopes Balogh had for Olympic gold.

In 2008, she was unable to defend her title due to a serious bout of glandular fever. Two years later, she was bewilderingly overlooked for selection at the Delhi Commonwealth Games, despite shooting the second-highest score in the three-event qualifying series.

Six years of bad luck lit in Balogh a burning desire to prove herself once again at the 2012 Olympics in London, but a stomach virus severely impacted her preparations and, just days before the competition started, she was placed on an intravenous drip.

Despite that significant impediment, Balogh started well and qualified in third place after shooting 72 of 75 possible targets.

However, her illness had lingered and hampered her performance in the final. Balogh missed her first five targets and, despite shooting an Australian record and PB, finished last with a score of 87.

This year, Balogh has no plans to participate in the Olympics, but has undertaken a mentorship role among the Australian team as she helps prepare athletes both physically and mentally.

With Balogh's influence behind the scenes, Australia's shooters will no doubt be well-prepared for whatever challenges they face should the games go ahead.