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Whitley Loper
Personal information
Full nameCollyn Loper
Nationality United States
Born (1986-12-31) December 31, 1986 (age 37)
Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
Height5 ft 5 in (1.64 m)
Weight150 lb (68 kg)
Sport
SportShooting
EventTrap (TR75)
ClubUSA Shooting[1]
Coached byLloyd Woodhouse[1]
Medal record
Women's shooting
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2003 Santo Domingo TR75

Collyn "Whitly" Loper (born December 31, 1986, in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American sport shooter.[2] She won a gold medal in trap shooting at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and eventually finished fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, narrowly missing out an opportunity to claim an Olympic medal. Since the age of fourteen, Loper has been serving throughout her sporting career for the U.S. national team, and trains rigorously under her longtime coach Lloyd Woodhouse.[1][3] Naturally right-handed, Loper was born blind in her right eye that urged her to shoot left.[4]

Having pursued the sport since the age of twelve, Loper started out as a successful junior with her third-place finish in the women's trap on her first major international competition at the 2001 World Championships in Cairo, Egypt.[5] Two years later, Loper boasted her early success to the sport by claiming the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, finishing ahead of Canada's Cynthia Meyer by a three-point lead 87 to 84. With her noteworthy triumph, Loper also secured an Olympic berth for the U.S. shooting team.[6]

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Loper competed as the youngest member of the U.S. shooting team (aged 17) in the women's trap.[4] Five months before the Games, Loper finished first in a grueling shoot-off against Joetta Dement at the U.S. Olympic trials in Fort Benning, Georgia to keep her own Olympic place that she obtained from the Pan American Games.[5][7] As one of the possible frontrunners vying for an Olympic medal in the sporting event, Loper put up her own monumental effort with a qualifying score of 62 hits out of a possible 75 to grab the third seed in the six-woman final, but narrowly missed out on a potential medal by just one target that allowed her South Korean rival Lee Bo-na to snatch the bronze, finishing only in fourth with a total score of 82. Admittedly, Loper broke her family's promise not to take a quick glimpse of the scoreboard as a result of her medal failure.[8][9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "ISSF Profile – Whitly Loper". ISSF. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Whitly Loper". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  3. ^ Axtman, Kris (August 16, 2004). "Olympic shooter who overcame impairment". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  4. ^ a b Weir, Tom (July 29, 2004). "Teen sharpshooter hits with single vision". USA Today. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "This Teen Is Shooting Star". Los Angeles Times. August 11, 2004. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  6. ^ "Loper, who is blind in one eye, captures gold". ESPN. August 4, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  7. ^ DeWitt, Robert (April 28, 2004). "Gunning for the Gold". The Tuscaloosa News. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  8. ^ "Shooting: Women's Trap Final". Athens 2004. BBC Sport. August 15, 2004. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  9. ^ Prater, Mike (August 16, 2004). "Loper misses target, medal; Olympic air rifle record falls". USA Today. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
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