Although first-year Collyn Loper was born blind in her right eye because of a hereditary condition called “coloboma”, she was determined not to let that stop her from reaching her third grade goal of competing in the Olympic games.

“My dad and I tried every sport we could find. I was terrible at most of them because I lack a depth of vision since I only have one good eye,” she said. “In softball I would swing the bat too early and during basketball I would always throw it too short, but when I finally found my sport it just clicked.”

At the age of nine, Loper discovered trap shooting, a sport in which competitors stand 16 meters behind a launch point of a clay target. Participants then have two shots with which to blast the target out of the sky.

“It was kind of natural for me to get into this sport,” Loper said. “I grew up in Mississippi and guns where just a part of our way of life.

“Also, my dad loves to go hunting so I first did trap shooting with him. I loved it. I finally found a sport I could do with only one good eye.”

After eight years of dedication to the sport, Loper not only reached the Olympics, but she placed fourth at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.

“Even though the practice has been a lot of work, it has been a lot of fun and it was time I got to spend with my dad. There have been several weekends where the two of us would just go out and shoot all day,” Loper said.

“I love it. It is our time to bond.”

It is the close bond with her father that led Loper to her proudest moment at the Olympic games. At the age of 17, one-half the age of the next youngest competitor, Loper had made it to the finals round of her event, after a cut that took the player count from 40 to six.

“My dad taught me everything I know about shooting, and I was just happy that I could make him so proud of me,” she said. “That meant a lot.”

Loper, who at one point during the competition was tied for second but eventually dropped to fourth place, hopes she can have more moments such as those in Athens.

“I definitely want to go back to the Olympics,” she said. “I am lucky.”

While a friend explained that in her sport, gymnastics, a career is all but over at the age of 17, trap shooting is something Loper can look forward to for years to come.

Though not yet guaranteed a bid to the next Olympic games, Loper practices almost every weekend at her friend’s shooting range, which is two hours away from campus.

“I have to train hard, but it’s my goal, she said. I hate when people tell me that their dream is too big, because as cliché as it sounds, you can do anything if you set your mind to it.

“That is how I got the to first Olympics, and that is how I plan to get back.”