Catching Up

Whole bunch of things have happened and before I could logon, somebody switched off the Internet. Maybe they downloaded it all and deleted the original. I'm not too sure. ;-)

Avie shot her first match, air pistol, yesterday. We arrived just after 8 AM and the stands were packed for the 9 AM start. I managed to whine, errrrr, chat with one of the volunteers to get behind Avie's shooting position, so I could watch her better. Then, I explained that I was "Jia-na-da jiao-lien" (Canadian coach). They either understood or thought that I was crazy, and gave me a seat. I pulled out a stack of Canadian pins and became the second most popular foreigner in China (Mark Rowswell, or Da-shan, is #1 here). I got the seat and settled in, with a Buddhist prayer braclet (beads, like a rosary?) and several China stickers as returning gifts. (Yes, again, people took pictures with me, the Hairy Foreigner! What can I say, I'm big in China.)

Avie came in, didn't look back, and focused on her match. She looked concentrated and confident. Sighting shots were okay, neither great nor bad. The first few record shots were rough though, costing her a bit. I don't know how to explain what she was going through. No matter how hard you prepare psychologically for a big event, when it happens, you have to adjust.

So, the first 10 shots weren't her best, but from there on, she improved. Her timing was good and her delivery pretty consistent. She never looked back at the audience until she was finished. Good thing too, as I was sitting on the edge of my seat, on pins and needles the entire time.

While watching Avie, I was positioned behind Katerina Paderina (sp?) from Russia. She ended up setting an new Olympic preliminary record of 391/400. I've never seen anything like it and I was sure that nobody could catch her. Then, I heard that the Chinese shooter, Guo, had shot 390. Reviewing the scores, it looked like we had a fight for the Gold medal, and a fight for Bronze.

As the finals rolled out, Paderina made a fatal flaw on her second or third shot, shooting 8.5/10.9 and Guo shot 10.5, I think. Instead of one point ahead, Paderina was now one point behind. Shots were delivered, but Paderina never reclaimed the lead. With that one shot, it was over.

This reinforces one of the things that I believe about shooting. You don't have to shoot perfectly, but you can't make mistakes. The competition is so tight that you can't waste one shot: its fatal.

At the end of the day, Avie is adjusting well to working at this new level of pressure. She's putting a lot on herself and feels the support coming from home and family here. (She definitely appreciates it, so keep it coming.) Nonetheless, its different and something that she needs to work through. And Avie is doing it well and learning from the experience. She's soaking it all up, as she prepares for the next Olympics in 2012, in London. (We'll need your support through the next four years as well!)