Seonaid McIntosh: the British shooter with first gold of Games in her sights | Tokyo Olympic Games 2020

McIntosh was born into capturing because the daughter of Shirley, a gold medallist on the 1994 Commonwealth Video games, and Donald, who additionally represented Scotland on the Commonwealth Video games eight years later. She can also be following within the footsteps of her older sister, Jennifer, the winner of two Commonwealth golds for Scotland in 2010, in a sport the place the margin between gold and silver is commonly measured in fractions of a millimetre.

Along with the psychological strain that comes with realizing that one wayward shot within the qualifying spherical may imply an early exit, capturing additionally locations some stunning bodily calls for on opponents, provided that one of many principal necessities is to stay as immobile as attainable.

“Bodily, it’s a must to be match sufficient to deal with a heavy coaching load,” Donald, who can also be his daughter’s coach, says, “in positions that place numerous pressure on numerous elements of the physique, notably however not solely the again, neck, and shoulders, and in positions which can be very asymmetrical.

“Muscle groups fatigue and tremor, so we attempt to make as a lot use as attainable of the skeletal system to assist the rifle. The purpose of goal of the rifle is at all times transferring, even for really elite athletes, and we spend numerous time engaged on decreasing each the dimensions and velocity of this motion.

“There’s additionally an enormous psychological element, and the flexibility to ship the talents developed in coaching successfully and constantly beneath strain is completely key. There’s loads of time to assume between photographs, and managing ideas and feelings in competitors is the factor that actually separates the perfect shooters from the remainder of the sector.”

There aren’t any telescopic sights or cross-hairs on McIntosh’s rifle, and to attain a ten with a single shot within the 10m occasion, she might want to hit a goal that’s 0.5mm huge. The bullseye, although, can also be divided into decimals, with the highest rating of 10.9 awarded just for a wonderfully central shot.

“Each decimal level issues,” Donald says. “You may be eradicated with only a 0.1 level distinction, 0.25mm on a goal 10m away.

“You possibly can’t see any of those scoring rings, in truth they solely exist within the pc that processes the sign generated by the pellet passing via the digital goal. All you may see via the sights is the round blob of the black a part of the goal.”