{"id":29193,"date":"2014-04-16T13:16:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-16T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/?p=29193"},"modified":"2014-04-17T09:24:07","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T14:24:07","slug":"olympic-gold-medalist-jamie-gray-to-retire-from-competitive-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/olympic-gold-medalist-jamie-gray-to-retire-from-competitive-shooting\/29193\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie Gray to retire from competitive shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

From USA Shooting<\/em> – Injury Forces Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie (Beyerle) Gray to Retire<\/h1>\n

\"\"Colorado Springs, Colorado<\/em> – There comes a time in every elite athlete\u2019s life where they eventually succumb to the pain they place upon their body to perform the sport they love. Today is that day for reigning Olympic gold medalist Jamie (Beyerle) Gray <\/strong>(Lebanon, Pa.) as she reluctantly retires from her competitive rifle career.<\/p>\n

No doubt that the gold medal she earned in London helped make the decision a little bit easier as did the new life she\u2019s building in Kalispell, Mont. But more than that, Gray wasn\u2019t willing to forego her long-term health for the opportunity to continue shooting.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Gray has tolerated a lower back that was unbearable at times and something that worsened each time she put in the training time necessary to compete at the very best. Simply put, her back could no longer bear the brunt and it told her so every time she tried.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has taken a toll on my body, mind and life since,\u201d Gray acknowledged. \u201cAt the Olympics, I had three injections in my back after the air rifle match, which allowed me to be successful in smallbore.\u201d<\/p>\n

USA Shooting Team Physiologist Cathy Arnot <\/strong>described the condition like this: \u201cShe essentially has the wear-and-tear on her spine that could be expected of a 70-year-old woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

The severe pain and discomfort in her back began at the 2010 World Championships and has been with her every time she trains and competes. Arnot describes the injury as a degeneration of the facet joints located on both sides of the vertebrae.\u00a0 An MRI taken during the Olympic Games showed tearing and degeneration of the cartilage along several facet joints and a bulging disc. Just prior to her gold-medal performance in London, she received a cortisone injection without any anesthesia, at Jamie\u2019s request, to relieve the pain.<\/p>\n

She took a year off after London in hopes the rest would rectify the problem.\u00a0 But when she started picking up the gun again last October, the pain returned. For the first time, she was left to contemplate whether all the pain experienced over the past three years was worth it. Not only was the pain taxing on her body, but on her mind as well.<\/p>\n

The orthopedists and neurologists that evaluated her came to the consensus that if she continued to compete, that the degeneration would continue to worsen, leading to daily pain and early arthritis of the spine. According to Arnot, her only alternative was a surgical fusion of her spine, but with no guarantee she\u2019d be able to realistically compete afterwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this injury came everyday pain and the scare of never living life without pain again, which I am not willing to do,\u201d she said. \u201cI am a very active person and want to be able to do active things with my family for many years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie is one of the toughest competitors I have known in 23 years as a sport psychologist at the USOC,\u201d said U.S. Olympic Committee Sport Psychologist Sean McCann<\/strong>. \u201cHer toughness will be useful now as well. Ending an Olympic career early due to injury is one of the most difficult challenges an elite athlete faces, and it is especially hard if you know you are one of the best in the world. Although Jamie accomplished so much in her career, she had much more left in the tank, and it is very tough to leave a competitive life when you love competition as much as Jamie. All retiring Olympic athletes miss the focus, intensity and single minded-purpose of the athlete\u2019s life. The challenge for Olympians in transition is harnessing their drive and talents to succeed in a post-athlete career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competing as an Olympic athlete and earning an Olympic gold medal in London has provided Gray with unmatched perspective in terms of what the shooting sports has provided her. What began as a way to connect with her older brother, turned into a life-long love affair with a game that demands perfection, mental fortitude and the incessant need to educate the masses about a sport limited by its exposure, but yet driven by a passionate following.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis sport has been part of my life since a very young age and has taught me so much,\u201d Gray said. \u201cUSA Shooting has showed me immense support since I was 17, and I learned there is more to the Olympic movement than just the athletes. I have made shooting into a career and couldn’t have done that without the support of USA Shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Collegiate teammate and best friend Matt Emmons<\/strong>, a three-time Olympic medalist, says for all that the sport has given her, she too has played a part in giving back to the sport and he\u2019s filled not with sadness today, but with joy and happiness.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie would tell you that she wasn\u2019t the most talented shooter, but she was super motivated, focused, and worked harder than just about anyone,\u201d he admits.\u00a0 \u201cOver the years, she sacrificed a lot to make her dream come true. If I say \u2018I\u2019m happy for her,\u2019 it\u2019s because of these two reasons: first, her dream did come true. Even with injury, she lived the experience almost all athletes dream about \u2013 to go the Olympics, have the best competition of your life, and win a gold medal. She did that and I am so happy I was there to watch it happen. Next, I\u2019m happy because now that she\u2019s retired, she will be able to enjoy some of the things she sacrificed for that dream. Jamie\u2019s absolutely not a one-dimensional person and she has plenty of other goals and interests. I\u2019m excited to see her turn the page and start writing that next chapter in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gray is a two-time Olympian who shook off bitter disappointment in 2008 to earn her way to the top of the podium in 2012. In Beijing, she missed a medal in both Air Rifle and Three-Position by 1.8 points total. Over the 120 shots fired, that\u2019s the equivalent of 1\/4\u201d or the size of a pencil eraser between medal and no medal.<\/p>\n

Long considered one of the top rifle shooters in the world, Gray finally got the hardware that solidifies that recognition on the sport\u2019s biggest stage at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. After an impressive run of making finals in each of four Olympic events she competed in, she finally climbed to the top of the podium and in that instance all the work and sacrifice was justified.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie went through extremely tough physical challenges on the road to her fourth and fifth-place finishes in Beijing that would have retired most athletes,\u201d said Jamie\u2019s coach, mentor and now USA Shooting Operations Director Dave Johnson<\/strong>. \u201cAfter painfully just missing the podium in China and overcoming those obstacles, Jamie briefly grieved and then went back to work on setting herself up to win in London.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Gray talks about that moment in London when she was able put all her training and sacrifice together to complete her goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream come true to stand on the top of the podium representing the United States hearing our national anthem being played. Winning at the Olympics is something I had worked towards since I was 15 years old, and that moment and the entire match will never be forgotten. It was such a blessing to celebrate with coaches, teammates, friends, family and sponsors that helped me get to that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jamie\u2019s success, according to Johnson, was based on two key ingredients of elite-level achievement in any walk of life: the discipline to put the hard, often monotonous, work in and the dogged determination to reach her goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cJamie\u2019s legacy in my view will be that there are no shortcuts, there are many very tough challenges on the road to reaching tough goals, and that you don\u2019t leave stones unturned,” said Johnson. “She always sought improvement in a logical and methodical way. She had a deep focus on those skills she wanted to improve on, not just the easier or already mastered parts of her performance. She was never one to let a weakness go unaddressed and never assumed she had the answer to everything, even as she reached higher and higher levels of performance. She challenged the coaches to maximize what they had to offer and then she put the training to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other highlights of her career including winning the NCAA Rifle Championships both as an individual and in the team event.\u00a0 She was a big fan of team matches throughout her career and thus those stick out in particular including the 2010 World Championship team bronze in air rifle as well as team gold in smallbore.<\/p>\n

Given her work ethic and competitiveness, she\u2019ll be successful no matter what endeavor she chooses in life\u2019s next chapter.\u00a0 But for now, she has plenty of things to occupy her time as she plans a November wedding where she\u2019ll tie the knot with Kimber Manufacturing National Account Manager Mike Corkish.<\/p>\n

\u201cLife changed dramatically for me when I met the love of my life in 2013 and we decided to marry later this year. \u201cHe brings two amazing kids, Morgan and Michael, to our relationship and they have all definitely helped in this decision. Nothing about my decision to retire has been easy, but it sure does help to have the support of my fianc\u00e9 and my soon to be step kids. I couldn’t ask for Morgan and Michael to accept their father’s and my relationship more and they have all taught me there is more in life than just sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

As fiery a competitor as you\u2019ll ever meet, she\u2019ll look to fill the void any way she can.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a fierce competitor in anything I do and I will have to find a way to fill my competitive drive elsewhere in life,\u201d she added. \u201cI enjoy the feeling of competition and the anxiety that comes with competing and I will greatly miss this feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Emmons notes that he\u2019s not so worried about the void she\u2019ll have to fill in her life, but rather the sport\u2019s void after her departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sport of shooting itself won\u2019t change a bit because of her retirement, however. I say that because she is already a part of the sport, its history and legacy, Emmons said. \u201cEvery athlete eventually has to retire and move on to the next big thing. It\u2019s not that these people are forgotten or that the sport is worse off. On the contrary, the sport is greater because that person became a part of its history and they left countless things behind them\u00a0to make the sport better. Jamie was and will continue to be an inspiration for young shooting athletes around the world. People will continue to talk about the qualities she embodied that made her so good. I also know that she will continue to be involved in shooting in some capacity, thereby continuing to spread the knowledge and experience she gained to future generations of shooters.”<\/p>\n

\"\"Jamie notes that her parents and brother have always provided the backbone of support from the very beginning of her career. Outside of family, Johnson has always provided the foundation for her success having recruited her to Alaska-Fairbanks when he coached that program.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave and I have had an amazing coach-athlete relationship and he has been there for me throughout the best and worst times,\u201d Gray said. \u201cWe have worked through many shooting problems together and he has always supported me in life. Dave has been a great mentor to me and I will always have many great memories of our ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been my honor to have been involved with her on this journey,\u201d concluded Johnson. \u201cOf course, there\u2019s never been a dull moment in coaching her. I\u2019m sure we will hear an audible sigh of relief from around the world from Jamie\u2019s competitors upon her retirement\u2014but I\u2019ll enjoy watching her put her experience and skills to work with our next generation of champions that will make that relief short lived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From USA Shooting – Injury Forces Olympic Gold Medalist Jamie (Beyerle) Gray to Retire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":29194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2597,165],"tags":[3608],"class_list":["post-29193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shootingsports","category-usa-shooting","tag-usa-shooting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.downrange.tv\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}