Dulohery Misses Bronze in Olympic Skeet Shoot-Off

By Tim Hipps
Special to American Forces Press Service

ATHENS, Greece, Aug. 23, 2004 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Dulohery lost a three- way shoot-off for a bronze medal and finished fifth in men's skeet shooting Aug. 22 in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games here.

Sgt. 1st Class James "Todd" Graves finished in a six-way tie for ninth place in the two-day event at Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre.

Italy's Andrea Benelli prevailed in another shoot-off against silver medalist Marko Kemppainen, who equaled the world record in qualification, to win the gold medal with a final score of 149. Cuba's Juan Miguel Rodriguez defeated Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiya and Dulohery in the shoot-off for the bronze medal with a 147 total.

"It was an exciting final, good to be in it," said Dulohery, 39, from Lee's Summit, Mo., and a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit based at Fort Benning, Ga. "I wish for USA Shooting's sake and my sake that I would've won a medal, but there's always the next one."

Dulohery nailed 122 of 125 targets in five qualification rounds, including a perfect 25 in his final stanza to reach the final. He said he was too pumped up for the shoot-off.

"I just shot it too quick," he said of missing his sixth target in the shoot- off for third place. "I get quicker as the pressure builds. I'm a really, really high-anxiety person, and I was pretty excited just to be in the finals." Rodriguez downed 10 targets to Nasser's nine to claim the bronze.

Graves, 41, a marksmanship unit shotgun shooter from Laurel, Miss., finished qualification with a score of 121, one target shy of the cutoff for the final.

"I knew I had to run 50 today," said Graves, who shot 24 of 25 targets in back- to-back rounds. "When I missed one in the first round and I saw how the wind was blowing, I knew if I could run the last run that I would have a chance, but one just slipped away from me."

(Tim Hipps is assigned to the Army Community and Family Support Center Public Affairs Office.)