RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Five years ago, Springfield, Virginia native Ginny Thrasher had never picked up a gun. Out of curiosity, she asked her dad and granddad to take her deer hunting. During her first hunt, she killed a whitetail and credits the thrill of the experience for getting her interested in the shooting sports.
Today, the 19 year old Thrasher is the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic Shooting Team and will compete for Team USA starting Saturday in Rio to complete a story book year.
“It has been an amazing year,” she said. “It’s the year you dream of when you enter college.”
As a freshman member of the WVU Rifle Team Thrasher won the individual NCAA Championships in both small bore and air rifle and led her team to a fourth straight and 18th overall NCAA title. She’s the first freshman to ever sweep both titles at the NCAA match. She went to Olympic Team Trials three weeks later and pulled out a decisive victory in the Three-Position event over a seasoned and talented field. She earned a nine-point win having never competed in the event internationally. With her Olympic spot secure, Ginny went on to win four medals and three national titles at the 2016 USA Shooting National Championships for Rifle/Pistol at Fort Benning, Georgia. She added top 10 finishes at World Cup shooting events in Munich and Rio as a tune up for the Olympics.
“I think for me, this is just the next step,” said Thresher when asked about the big stage of the Olympics. “I’m just putting one foot in front of the other, and this is the next opportunity for me. I’m actually really excited after that to start my second collegiate season.”
Thrasher will shoot Saturday morning in the women’s air rifle event, the first competition of the Olympic Games.
“I’ll be competing in the very first event of the Olympics, and then five days later on the 11th is the second event, women’s smallbore,” she said. “I’ll return home and 20 hours later I’ll start my sophomore year at WVU.”
Thrasher will forgo opening ceremonies on Friday night with an early wake up call for Saturday morning’s air rifle event. While most members of Team USA will soak in the party-like atmosphere, Ginny will be getting her game face on.
“The day of opening ceremonies we have official training and it’s going to be very serious. That’s when all of the distractions will be over and I can completely focus on my match,” she said. “But at the same time, I want to go down there, have fun, and enjoy the experience.”
The side stories of the upcoming games have been the conditions, the pollution, and the threat of disease like Zika. Thrasher wasn’t worried.
“For me, it’s not really a concern. Every time the Olympics come around they get a little worked up about some of the things that could happen. I commend Brazil for doing their best to put on a great show. I think it’s going to go off really well,” said Thrasher. “As for the Zika virus, we run more risk in getting on the plane to go down there.”
The Olympics in Rio is a long way from her granddaddy’s deer stand, but Thrasher’s easy going attitude shined through when asked if this was the biggest match of her life.
“It is so far.” she laughed. “It’s just about being able to go there and no matter how big the competition, perform the best that I can. Obviously what I’ve been doing has been having some success, so as long as I keep doing what I’m doing, working hard, and keep loving the sport, it can’t get anything but better.”
Thrasher won’t be the only West Virginia ties to the Olympic shooting sports. Former Mountaineer shooters Nicco Campriani and Petra Zublasing will shoot for Italy, Ziva Dvorsak for Slovenia, and Dave Johnson is a member of the Team USA coaching staff.