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Army Reserve Staff
Sgt. Libby Callahan, 52, will be the oldest member of
Team USA competing in the Olympic Games at Athens,
Greece. She competes Aug. 15 in women's 10-meter air
pistol and Aug. 18 in women's 25-meter sport pistol
shooting. Photo by Tim Hipps
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A three-time Olympian and member of the U.S.
Army World Class Athlete Program, Callahan said she has never
felt better about her chances in the world's largest sporting
event. She will compete Aug. 15 in women's 10-meter air pistol
and Aug. 18 in women's 25-meter sport pistol shooting.
"I feel so good about my chances and my
ability to compete in this Olympics," said Callahan, a
native of Columbia, S.C., who lives in Upper Marlboro, Md.
"I feel so much more confident. I feel that I'm more
ready than I have ever been to compete and I have as good a
chance as anyone else."
In the 1992 Barcelona Games, Callahan finished
37th in air pistol. In the 1996 Atlanta Games, she placed 23rd
in sport pistol. In Athens, she hopes to shoot more memorable
marks to honor those shooting more meaningful rounds.
"It's extremely important to me at this
stage in my life and at this time in history to be a member of
the United States Army," Callahan said. "I think
about our troops all around the world, especially in the war
zones of Afghanistan and Iraq. To me, they're more important
than anything that I'm doing. To be a part of the military and
to be represented by them is an important aspect of my
career."
Getting away from police work has allowed
Callahan to train longer hours with more peace of mind.
"I've been around shooting for a long
time, and I think it's seasoned me," she said. "The
fact that I retired this past year has also helped in the
reduction of stress that I feel from my job. I certainly feel
better physically and mentally going into these Games as
opposed to the other two. In the past, when I was working with
the police department, I didn't go so much for quantity of
practice as I did for quality."
Callahan said it usually took several days,
sometimes even a week, for her to unwind from the constant
stress of police work to relax enough for competitions.
"A lot of times, the competition was over
by the time I was ready," she said. "But that was
just the intensity that I devoted to my job. I'm not
complaining; that's just the way that I am."
Callahan scoffs at skeptics who don't consider
shooters athletes.
"A lot of people feel that because I
don't lift weights to the degree where I'm lifting for a medal
or run to the degree that I'm competing in a race, that I'm
not an athlete," she said. "But I have to keep
strong and make sure that I'm cardiovascularly fit. It takes a
lot for me to stand on a range four or five hours to shoot and
lift a two-and-a-half-pound gun over and over and over again
– hundreds of times, sometimes a thousand times in a day.
And to hold your muscle skills, it takes strength to do that.
"We are athletes in the sense that we
have to do something with our muscles totally opposite of what
somebody else is doing," said Callahan, twice named most
valuable player on her basketball team at Cardinal Newman High
in Columbia. "It takes a tremendous amount of strength
and the mental aspect of it, too."
Although she now trains on her own at the 12th
Precinct Pistol Club Range in Davidsonville, Md., Callahan
said she probably wouldn't be going to Athens without military
backing.
"The Army has supported me over the years
in so many ways in my pursuit of shooting, not only
financially, but morally, with equipment, and with
coaching," Callahan said of her 19-year service to the
Army Reserve. "To win a medal would mean that all my hard
work has paid off and that I have accomplished a goal that I
set for myself. I'd probably stick it in a box and put it in
my closet.
"I don't dwell on past accomplishments,
because I feel that you're only as good as your last
shot," said Callahan, named 2001 Pistol Athlete of the
Year by USA Shooting. "That's not going to help you win
anything. What you do right here in the moment is what's going
to help you win down the road. Each and every shot, you've got
to think: 'Execute, execute.'"
Callahan said that winning her first
international medal, which she gave to her mother, was the
highlight of her shooting career. She can top that shining
moment with an appearance on the medal stand in Athens.
(Tim Hipps is assigned to U.S. Army Community
and Family Support Center Public Affairs.)
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Army Reserve Staff Sgt. Elizabeth "Libby"
Callahan, a member of the U.S. Army World Class
Athlete Program who lives in Upper Marlboro, Md.,
prepares to make her third Olympic appearance in
pistol shooting during the Athens Games. Photo by Tim
Hipps |
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High resolution photo. |
Spc. Hattie Johnson,
a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit from
Athol, Idaho, will compete Aug. 14 in 10-meter air
rifle shooting in the Summer Olympic Games at Athens,
Greece. Photo by Tim Hipps
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