Kimberly Susan Rhode (born July 16, 1979) is an American double trap and skeet shooter. A

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

native, she is a six-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

medal winner, including three gold medals, and six-time national champion in double trap. She is the most successful female shooter at the Olympics as the only triple Olympic Champion and the only woman to have won two Olympic gold medals for Double Trap. She won a gold medal in skeet shooting at the 2012 Summer Olympics, equaling the world record of 99 out of 100 clays. Most recently, she won the bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, making her the first Olympian to win a medal on five different continents, the first Summer Olympian to win an individual medal at six consecutive summer games, and the first woman to medal in six consecutive Olympics.

Early life

Kimberly Rhode was born in

Whittier, California Whittier () is a city in Southern California in Los Angeles County, part of the Gateway Cities. The city had 87,306 residents as of the 2020 United States census, an increase of 1,975 from the 2010 census figure. Whittier was incorporated i ...

, in 1979. Rhode began

sport hunting Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collectabl ...

at an early age, traveling on

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an importa ...

s by the age of 12. Rhode began competing in skeet at age 10.

International competition

Rhode, at 13, won her first world championship title in women's double trap shooting. After double trap shooting was eliminated from the 2008 Summer Olympics, she has concentrated on skeet. Rhode became a Distinguished International Shooter in 1995 (Badge #388). In ISSF World Cup competition, she has won 19 Gold, 7 Silver, and 8 Bronze medals. At the 2007 World Cup competition in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

, she set a new world record in this event with 98 hits (73 in the qualification round and a perfect 25 in the final).

1996 Olympics

Rhode won a gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics, making her the youngest female gold medalist in the history of Olympic shooting.

2000 Olympics

Rhode won a bronze medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

2004 Olympics

Rhode won a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

in Women's Double trap.

2008 Olympics

Rhode won the silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in women's skeet.

2012 Olympics

On July 29 at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Rhode won the gold medal in skeet shooting with an Olympic record score of 99, tying the world record in this event. With this medal, Rhode is the only American competitor to win medals for an individual event in five consecutive Olympics. She also became one of the three competitors (and the only woman) to win three Olympic individual gold medals for shooting, along with Ralf Schumann of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and

Jin Jong-oh Jin Jong-oh (진종오; ; born 24 September 1979) is a South Korean sports shooter who competed at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. The only individual four-time Olympic champion in shooting, he is the most successful individual ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

2016 Olympics

Qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics made Rhode the first U.S. Olympian to qualify for an Olympic team on five different continents. Kim Rhode won the bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, making her the first Olympian to win a medal on five different continents, the first Summer Olympian to win an individual medal at six consecutive summer games, and the first woman to medal in six consecutive Olympics.

TV Host

Rhode is co-host of the

Outdoor Channel Outdoor Channel is an American pay television channel focused on the outdoors, offering programming that includes hunting, fishing, Western lifestyle, off-road motorsports and adventure. The network can be viewed on multiple platforms including ...

's TV program ''Step Outside''. Rhode studied Pre-veterinary medicine at Cal Poly Pomona.

Stolen competition shotgun

On September 11, 2008, Rhode's competition

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small pellet-like spherical sub- p ...

was stolen from her pickup; she had been using it in competition for eighteen years. The gun was returned to her in January 2009 after it was discovered during an unrelated search of a

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

e's home; the parolee was charged with possession of stolen property. In the meantime fans had donated to buy her a new $13,000 Perazzi shotgun. Having become used to training with the new gun, she elected to retire "Old Faithful" after four Summer Games.

Personal life

Rhode spoke at the

2012 Republican National Convention The 2012 Republican National Convention was a gathering held by the U.S. Republican Party during which delegates officially nominated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin for president and vice pr ...

, introducing several other Olympians on the stage. Rhode married Mike Harryman in 2009. Their son was born in 2013. In addition to being a member of USA Shooting's National Team, Rhode is an honorary lifetime member of the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

and a member of Safari Club International.

Career results

References

External links

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Kim Rhode
at USA Shooting {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhode, Kim California State Polytechnic University, Pomona alumni 1979 births Living people American female sport shooters United States Distinguished Marksman Skeet shooters Shooters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2003 Pan American Games Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2007 Pan American Games Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2011 Pan American Games Shooters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2015 Pan American Games Shooters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in shooting Olympic silver medalists for the United States in shooting Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in shooting Sportspeople from Whittier, California Trap and double trap shooters Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States California Republicans Pan American Games medalists in shooting Shooters at the 2019 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2019 Pan American Games 21st-century American women