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Sights set on Games medals
After such a long wait, the 17-year-old Belmont native, who was competing in women's air rifle yesterday, was just hoping she could calm her nerves enough to shoot her average.
Cupples did better than she expected, qualifying for the finals with a total of 364 out of a possible 400 points. She finished eighth in the final with a score of 454.7 out of 510.
The qualifying score is added to a shooter's final round for the total after the top eight in both the men's and women's competition advance.
"I didn't think I'd get in. I squeaked in by a point," said the excited Grade 12 student from East Elgin secondary school. "I'm having the time of my life. I'm here, which is a big thing, and meeting your goal is . . . awesome.
"You can be a winner in your own little match. Shooting your normal score and not getting nervous, that's what you can win," Cupples said.
Her classmate at East Elgin, Greg Pearson of Aylmer, also advanced to the men's air rifle final and finished seventh. There were 20 competitors in the qualifying round for the men and 18 in the women's.
Pearson scored 539 out of 600 in the qualifying round and 627.5 out of 710 in the final.
Pearson said in his first couple of qualifying shots he scored 10s and his third shot was almost a perfect 10.
Then, he said, he started trying too hard. "I got nervous. I started shaking."
Pearson said his average for 60 shots is about 545 points.
Cupples, who made the Ontario developmental team for the Games four years ago but didn't compete, was wearing two Ontario flags stuck into her hair as she encouraged the other Ontario competitors.
The women have one hour and 15 minutes to shoot 40 rounds at 40 targets. The men have an hour and 45 minutes to shoot 60 rounds.
Calming your nerves and steadying your hands in top competitions is tough, Cupples and Pearson said.
"I was shaking a lot after. We're so tense and it's so long," Cupples said. "I was just shaking like crazy."
While Pearson said his main goal was to make the finals, he said another goal has been to have fun at the Games, his biggest competition to date.
"The big thing . . . is to have fun," the 17-year-old said. "If you set your sights too high, it's no fun. I find it quite fun, ever since I was a little kid shooting at pop cans with a pellet gun."
Pearson has competed at the Ontario Summer and Winter Games, qualifying for his first Games only seven months after he took up the sport of shooting in 1996.
While shooting doesn't require extreme physical training, it's an asset to be physically and mentally fit to ensure good muscle control.
Cupples said that during competition, her rifle, which weighs almost five kilograms (more than 10 pounds), feels like a "sack of potatoes."
She said she usually works up a sweat on the range because she is wearing thick clothing with padding to support the rifle.
She said the padding also minimizes the effects of a shooter's pounding heart.
Cupples recently bought a new shooting coat, which also helps support her back and keeps her shoulders in line.
Cupples and Pearson will compete in the team air rifle competition tomorrow.
Marina McKillop of Alberta won the gold medal in the women's competition with 481.7.