Rifle shooter Dane Sampson enters the Tokyo Olympics in career-best form, having learned the art and upside of eliminating great expectations and "unnecessary" pressure.
Sampson, competing at his third Olympics, and 19-year-old Alex Hoberg will spearhead Australia's bid for their first shooting medal at the Tokyo Olympics during Sunday's 10-metre rifle contest.
Trap shooters have traditionally delivered the majority of Australia's success in the sport with Warren Potent the nation's only Olympic rifle medallist after winning bronze at Beijing 2008.
Yet Sampson and Hoberg have both produced some eye-catching recent personal bests.
Hoberg last month equalled the world-record mark of 252.8 points at a 10m tournament in Adelaide.
It would have been recognised as a world record if at an International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) event.
At another recent competition in Adelaide, Sampson set a national record of 462 points in the 50m three positions event.
The 34-year-old, who works as an antique restorer in his downtime, also logged some impressive results against the world's best at major events in 2018 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an enforced break.
Sampson says he will draw confidence from recent shooting.
But the reigning Commonwealth Games 10m rifle champion is wary of getting ahead of himself, having been among the athletes to commend the Australian Olympic Committee's ditching of medal forecasts after the 2016 Games.
"In London, I remember a lot of people walking around the village saying 'go for gold, bring back that medal!'. It can take your focus away from what is most important," the 34-year-old said.
"Speaking to the AOC in 2019 or 2020, I mentioned it to them.
"It puts an unnecessary amount of pressure on you. It's as if you can walk down the store and pick up a gold medal, it's that easy.
"It can be dangerous to have expectations, limiting or distracting."
It was a lesson that Sampson learned at the 2012 Olympics.
"I did have expectations then and they were the wrong expectations, unrealistic expectations. I expected to get something that was maybe not even possible," he said.
"And when you don't achieve those things, it can be pretty hard.
"A lot of athletes feel it after an Olympics, that sense of 'OK, what do I do now?'.
"I was in limbo afterwards, a bit of a slump. It took a while to build the motivation back up."
The Queenslander shifted to Adelaide after the London Games, wanting to hone his craft while working with the national coach at Shooting Australia's headquarters, and has been steadily improving since.
Australian Associated Press
