Olympic gold medallist Russell Mark in passionate plea to change perceptions of shooting

Two decades after he won the double trap event at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Mark believes the sport he loves remains unfairly maligned in the minds of some.

“The great part about this sport is you’ve got a guy in a wheelchair here,” Mark told The Daily Advertiser at this week’s national championships in Wagga, as he pointed out competitors on the range.

“The majority of people in that group would be above 60 years of age. And then you’ve got a large percentage of women. We’ve got everything covered in this sport – there’s really no age barrier at this level of the sport and that’s why you get 600 competitors along.

“It’s a pity that the wider public don’t see it because what the general public see as what they believe firearm owners are – it’s nothing like what you see this week. You haven’t got this Rambo type element…”

Mark believes debate and concern about gun laws are unfairly confused with an Olympic sport whose greatest weapon is its diversity and availability.

“People like to tie the firearm owners that are here with the people that use firearms illegally. And if they saw what was happening here, I’m sure they’d get a vastly different view of what the sport’s about,” he said.

“It’s just a pity because you come here and see 80-year old women competing against 12-year old boys, competing side by side and they’re all handling the firearms perfectly safely. The sport’s very proud of its safety record – never had an accident at a shooting range in Australia.”

Mark was one of many enjoying the week-long 2017 National Down The Line (DTL) Championships in Wagga, happily admitting that his attendance is more social than competitive these days.

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But he’s passionate about what the sport offers, particularly to a regional city which will next year host the World DTL Championships in a deal which will see Wagga benefit from a new convention centre.

“They’ve got a great facility, it brings a lot of people into this community and it’s great to see they’re expanding it now – next week, they start building a $7 million dollar complex here, to make it even better,” Mark said.

“There was a lot of criticism that (the worlds) was in a rural city originally but I think that it actually makes it a better atmosphere that it is in a rural city.

“We compete in a lot of the capital cities around Australia and you never seen anyone at night. But here, you can’t go anywhere in Wagga without running into someone who’s shooting at the national championships.

“It must boost the economy in Wagga significantly to have this tournament here. And next year you’re going to have people from all over the world here.”

A tier below the international, Olympic-standard disciplines, DTL is the breeding ground for shooting, attracting mass participation and elite shooters.

Mark, a five-time Olympian, was watching his wife Lauryn compete when The Daily Advertiser tracked him down. But he was buzzing about the performance of Penny Smith, a 22-year old Victorian who burst to international prominence with a World Cup victory in India earlier this year.

“She’s made the podium twice in a matter of days,” he said. “To have a young, attractive girl like that hitting as many targets is exactly what our sport needs.”

Catherine Skinner’s win in the women’s trap in Rio last year was only Australia’s fifth Olympic shooting gold medal, and our first since 2004.

Before 1996, Australia had won none. Then Atlanta delivered a double dose.

“It was an unusual time, ’96, because obviously it was when Michael (Diamond) and I won the two gold medals in Atlanta at a time just after the Port Arthur massacre when gun laws in Australia got completely turned around,” Mark said.

“Everyone seemed to be anti-shooting and then with the first week of the Atlanta Olympics the only two gold medallists were shooters – it was really odd, to be a part of history to see that all of a sudden you weren’t treated like the worst guy on earth, you were treated like - shit, these guys are actually just using a firearm for their sport.”

With the Sydney Olympics to follow, Mark said the scene was set for decade-long boom.

Diamond defended his trap title at the Sydney Olympics, where Mark won silver in the double trap. With the Atlanta bronze of Deserie Baynes (nee Huddleston, who was also competing in Wagga last week), Australia won five Olympic medals in clay target shooting across the 1996 and 2000 Games - a relative golden era for the sport.

“It’s stabilised now. We’re not losing members, we’re still growing,” Mark said.

“But it’s growing now for the right reasons. Back in ’96, there was a lot of people that joined shooting clubs because they wanted to keep their firearms licences.

“That to me is the most important part - that the sport keeps slowly moving forward with the right people in it for the right reasons.

“And we’re doing that. To see Catherine Skinner win a gold medal in Rio last Olympic Games, has an increase in membership, no doubt. The two are definitely related. And the number of young girls shooting, and shooting very, very well... we never would’ve thought that would happen 20 years ago.

“Young, attractive, females are not the stereotype of what people think we’ve got, but we’ve got lots of them. I think it’s great to see they’re world competitive as well.”