Susanne Maria Meyerhoff (born 7 July 1974 in

Kalundborg Kalundborg () is a Danish city with a population of 16,659 (1 January 2025),European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, a total of ten (three golds, four silver, and three bronze) at numerous meets of the

ISSF World Cup The ISSF World Cup was introduced by the International Shooting Sport Federation in 1986 to provide a homogeneous system for qualification to the Olympic shooting competitions. It still is carried out in the Olympic shooting events, with four comp ...

series, and a silver as a junior at the 1994 ISSF World Championships in

Milan, Italy Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Career

Meyerhoff started out as a successful junior at the age of eighteen, and eventually became a runner-up in air pistol shooting at the European Championships in

, when she was twenty. Two years later, Meyerhoff competed internationally on her senior debut for Denmark at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, finishing fifteenth in the

air pistol An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

and thirty-fourth in the

sport pistol A sport pistol or standard pistol is a type of handgun used in several shooting sports, including the Olympic 25 metre pistol event and 25 metre standard pistol. Since 2005, the 25 metre rapid fire pistol rules also require the use of sport pisto ...

with scores of 379 and 564 respectively. Between 1997 and 1999, Meyerhoff was able to back up her performance from the Olympics by successfully claiming gold medals in air pistol at three meets of the

series. She also simultaneously captured her first ever European title on the same discipline that marvelously culminated in a selection of being one of the favorites vying for an Olympic medal at the succeeding Games. On her second appearance in Sydney 2000, Meyerhoff put up a dismal display from her outstanding pre-Olympic aim in shooting, as she stumbled down the leaderboard to a distant thirty-fifth in the

with 372, and then shot a tally of 562 (289 in precision and 273 in the rapid-fire) to force in a two-way tie alongside Germany's Anke Schumann for thirty-ninth place in the

. Meyerhoff showed her most potential form in bouncing back to the range at the 2002 European Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece, claiming the gold for the first time in air pistol after four years at 486.2 points. The next season contributed to a tremendous success for Meyerhoff, as she dominated the field to defend her European title in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Sweden with a personal best of 492.7. She had gone into the 2003 ISSF World Cup meet in

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, having registered a minimum qualifying score of 384 to assure an Olympic quota place for Denmark on her third Games. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Meyerhoff decided to focus on her signature event, the women's 10 m air pistol. She fired a substandard 379 out of a possible 400 to force in a four-way tie with South Korea's Park Ah-young, Hungary's Dorottya Erdős, and Australia's

Lalita Yauhleuskaya Lalita Yauhleuskaya (born 31 December 1963 in Sokol, Russia) is a professional sporting shooter who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney representing Belarus and currently represents Australia in intern ...

for twenty-first place in the qualifying round, finishing five points below the Olympic final cutoff.

Personal life

Meyerhoff is the mother of 4 children: Julie (1997), Viktoria (2001), William (2008) and August (2012) and married to skeet shooter and 2004 Olympian Michael Nielsen.

Olympic results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyerhoff, Susanne 1974 births Living people Danish female sport shooters Olympic shooters for Denmark Shooters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Kalundborg Sport shooters from Region Zealand 21st-century Danish women