Blogtober Day 27: Kim Rhode

I'm obnoxiously excited about this week, guys. Tuesday night I'm going to the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame induction, Thursday is Halloween and the USA Volleyball costume contest, and on Saturday the interns are getting a tour of the USOC archives (*internally screaming*). So after Blogtober ends, I'll get maybe one day off before I'm word-vomiting my excessive feelings all over the blog again.  Prepare yourselves!

Kim Rhode is a shooter, so I'm 99% sure that 99% of people reading this have never heard of her, which is unfortunate. But I'd like to draw your attention to the photo above and the collection of Olympic medals around her neck. There are five of them, and no two were won at the same Games. Five Olympics. True story.

Kim began sport hunting when she was really young, and won her first world championship in women's double trap shooting when she was 13. Thirteen years old! UMMM. Her first Olympic medal came in 1996, a gold in double trap, making her the youngest female gold medalist in the history of Olympic shooting. She won a bronze in the same event in 2000, and another gold in 2004. Double trap was them removed from the Olympics, so Kim turned her focus to skeet. Not missing a beat (hey, that rhymes!), she set a world record with 98 hits during 2007 world cup competition, and then won silver at the 2008 Olympics. At the 2012 Olympics, she set an Olympic record and tied the new world record score with 99 hits on her way to another gold medal.

She also studied veterinary medicine at Cal Poly. And, when the shotgun she'd used in competitions for 18 years was stolen in 2008, fans donated $13,000 buy her a new gun. Holy dedicated fan base, Batman!

Kim is one of 11 Americans in history to have competed in five consecutive Olympics (along with Danielle Scott). She's the only American athlete ever to win medals for an individual event in five consecutive Olympics.

 And she's only 34. The oldest Olympian ever was a 72-year-old shooter, so Kim might still be out there winning medals when my hypothetical future children are out of college.