To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. STRIKING W hen the world is watching, you want to put your best shot forward, and our USA Shooting team did just that at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The event was a huge success for the United States — and an even bigger success for the shooting sports. The performance of the USA Shooting Team at the Olympics was unprecedented. Our team brought home six medals — the most medals won by the team since the boycott year of 1984. And it wasn’t just in medals that we succeeded. The team captured additional attention and credibility with four, fourth-place finishes and two, fifth-place finishes. Our Olympic shooters tied with Fencing (fourth place) for the most medals won by a sport at this Olympics, placing just behind swimming, track and field, and gymnastics. The USA Shooting Team not only succeeded in the number of medals won, but the shooting industry scored a gold medal in the number of people exposed to our shooters and the shooting sports. According to Nielsen Media Research, 4.7 billion viewers worldwide watched some part of the Olympic Games on NBC. In the United States, over 214 million unduplicated viewers watched the Olympic Games. It was the most viewed television event in the history of the U.S. Through their Web site, www.nbcolympics.com, NBC offered more access to the shooting sports than ever before. The site received over 1.3 billion page views, with nearly 52 million unique visits. Over 75 million people watched the video streaming of actual competitions. Granted, those impressive numbers aren’t dedicated solely to the shooting sports, but shooting did rank in the top 20. Without a doubt, the shooting sports were exposed to an extraordinary number of people during the Beijing games. NBC’s Olympic site is still active. You can easily access the competitions and information on our athletes for a full year. Visit www. nbcolympics.com. I had the opportunity to work with NBC as the shooting sports color commentator USA Olympic Shooting Team Captures The World For The Industry GOLD! By Shari Shari LeGate LeGate By Worldwide Coverage during the games. It was an incredible learning experience that enlightened me to the thought process of a major television network, and allowed me to see the shooting sports through their eyes. There were a lot of questions and a fascination with the shooting sports, in general, as the powers-to-be attempted to understand the sport and how to present it to the average viewer in a way that was interesting, exciting and understandable. Shooting competitions are difficult to cover, even Olympic ones. The obstacles at the Olympics were substantial when it came to showing the shooting competitions and the sport in a comprehensive manner. Network decisions made con- 2008 Olympic medalists (from left): Jason Turner, Vincent Hancock, Kim Rhode, Corey Cogdell, Matt Emmons and Glenn Eller. 57 SHOT SHOW SUPER ISSUE 2009 • www.shootingindustry.com