The mission of USA Shooting is to train and develop athletes whose primary goal is to win Olympic medals, to promote the sport of shooting and to govern international style shooting in the United States. The National Team contains approximately 80 athletes in the four disciplines of pistol, rifle, running target and shotgun. Approximately 40 percent of the team are female. One of the nine original Olympic sports in 1896, shooting now encompasses 17 Olympic events. The first medal of the last four Games has been the women s 10-meter air rifle.
Athletes train diligently in four-year cycles.
During the quadrenium the shooters compete annually at the regional, national and international levels. Country participation quota slots are earned in the two years prior to each Olympic year. The United States earned a total of 28 slots for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.