Ginny Thrasher

Country: USA
Sport: Shooting
Date of Birth: 02/28/1997
First Olympics: Rio, 2016

Anyone who has met or spoken with Ginny Thrasher usually ends up with the same description of her personality: bubbly.

Not the stereotypical, air-heady kind. More engaging, friendly, opinionated. Vivacious.

When Thrasher, of Springfield, Virginia, raises her rifle toward the 10-ring target 50 meters downrange, the other side of her personality takes over. Determined, focused, confident.

That's the part that pushed the 19-year-old to become the first freshman rifle shooter to win both individual NCAA titles and earn a spot at the Rio Olympics in less than a month.

Thrasher, even from a young age, gravitated toward challenges. The harder it was, the more she seemed to like it.

She wanted to be an Olympic figure skater when she was younger, but became enthralled with shooting after joining her grandfather, father and two older brothers on a hunting trip.

On the second day of the trip, the group stopped to eat lunch when Thrasher's father, Roger, told her there was a deer right behind her. Thrasher grabbed her gun, leaned against a tree and, to the surprise of her family, not only pulled the trigger, but took down the deer.

Not long after that, Thrasher began shooting with the air rifle team at West Springfield High School and went on to win the 2015 air rifle state championship. She also won five medals at the 2015 USA Shooting national championships to earn a spot on the U.S. National Team.

Recruited by numerous colleges out of high school, Thrasher decided to attend national shooting powerhouse West Virginia. Though Jon Hammond, Thrasher's rifle coach at West Virginia University, wasn't sure if she would be among the top five for the 18-time champion Mountaineers, Thrasher established herself as one of the nation's best shooters by the end of the year.

Even so, it was hard to predict what she would do during a four-week period this spring.

Thrasher entered the NCAA championships confident, yet was more focused on helping the four seniors with her to win a national championship in Akron, Ohio. The Mountaineers did just that and Thrasher had two added bonuses: Individual national championships in small-bore and air rifle with many of her family and friends watching.

Thrasher had another week of school after that, spent spring break in Costa Rica with her family, then headed to Fort Benning, Georgia, for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Again focused on shooting her best, not possible outcomes, she pulled off another surprise by building a massive lead after two days of the three-position event to earn a spot in Rio.

Copyright Rio2016
Contact Us