ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
At first glance, some people might think Ben Amonette didn't accomplish much in the Olympics - 44th in air pistol competition, 25th in free pistol.
But for those of us who hunt, shoot and own guns, the Radford marksman did something of lasting importance this past week. Amonette gave shooting some good press. He put shooting on the front page of The Roanoke Times, and this time it wasn't a murder or a robbery.
``Shooting is a good, clean sport, and I feel like one of my responsibilities is to represent the sport in a favorable way,'' he said. ``This gives me an opportunity to show there is a positive side.''
Medal or not, Amonette is the kind of competitor you'd be proud to represent your neck of the woods, and your sport. At age 41, he has scored well in high-level competition for 16 years, yet he remains modest, approaching the firing line with the realization he is there because of the support of his family, employer, the USA Shooting staff, the Army Reserve - it's a long list and it includes his God.
``All those people sacrificed tremendously for me to be where I am,'' he said. ``They aren't the ones getting recognition, but they had as much to do with it as I did.''
But in the end, on the line, you are on your own, and when you bring your gun up to aim at that tiny dot that is the bull's eye and there is a wobble in your hand, you know you are in trouble. That's what happened to Amonette on Monday in air pistol competition. His first two shots were 8s, rather than 10s, and he was out of it.
``The crowd from Europe doesn't cut you any slack,'' he said. ``They are tough. It almost is a game of perfection. They don't leave you any room to mess up.''
We are a nation of hunters, shooters and gun owners, and you'd expect the United States to dominate shooting events in the Olympics, but that's not the case. Success through the years has been sporadic. Nations such as Russia, China and Germany, where guns are tightly controlled, often take home the medals.
The fact that there are so many shooters and so many kinds of shooting in America - most of it with little resemblance to Olympic events - actually works against us. If you want to shoot, you just take a gun off the rack and head out the door. We don't offer our shooters the fine ranges, the world-class competition, the financial support, the recognition they receive in other parts of the world.
Amonette does most of his practicing in a cow pasture near Radford, pulling off a few rounds when he gets time. The winner of the air pistol match was a full-time shooter from Italy.
You get an ideal how popular shooting is in other countries by the crowds showing up at the ranges in Atlanta.
``The media room was packed,'' said Jack Bogaczyk, the Roanoke Times sports columnist who covered Amonette's competition. ``But it was about all foreigners. I hardly saw any U.S. journalists at all.''
Shooting is a leper sport of the Olympics as far as NBC-TV is concerned. Don't look for it to get any coverage, unless one of the shooters goes stark raving mad and shoots another. If you relied on national TV, you'd never know shooting was part of the Olympics, even though it attracts the third-largest number of participants.
Amonette loses no sleep over the fact that even if he'd shot a perfect score, his picture never would be on a Wheaties box.
``The media attention for the sport has not been what it could be, but it is not the media's fault,'' he said. After all, shooting a pistol at a bull's eye the size of a dime isn't all that exciting, unless the shooter happens to be your mom or dad or wife.
Peggy Amonette, Ben's wife, wants him to continue.
``I still enjoy shooting,'' he said, back home in Radford. ``I still feel like that inside me is a big score waiting to pop out.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB