By Megan Armitage
British Shooting team leader Steven Seligmann has hailed the transformative impact of The National Lottery funding on their journey to Olympic success.
Team GB won two shooting medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with Nathan Hales clinching men’s trap gold and Amber Rutter women’s skeet silver.
And following an Olympic cycle that Seligmann believes British Shooting have made their own, he thanked the support of The National Lottery and UK Sport in giving them those opportunities.
“I’m immensely proud of this team at British Shooting,” he said.
“We’ve been going on a journey of how to plan and prepare to embrace the moment and be the best team that we can.
“We’ve talked about Paris being our cycle and I think we smashed it.
“Every athlete we’ve had out at this Games should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved, a little bit of disappointment in some ways but overall we are incredibly proud of what we have achieved.
“None of it would have been possible without the support of The National Lottery and those people out there who go out and buy those lottery tickets.
“We don’t create special moments like Amber’s and Nathan’s without that support.
“So a big thank you to The National lottery and to UK Sport for their for their help as well.”
Rutter won skeet silver for Team GB just three months after giving birth to her son Tommy.
Coming into the final round in second after shooting 122 out of 125 shots, Rutter showcased a ruthless focus to take silver behind Chile’s Francisca Crovetto Chadid.
And after bagging silverware, the Team GB athlete was surprised by her husband and son who had flown out to support her without her knowing in what Seligmann believes to be the moment of the Games so far.
“Amber has just shown an absolute ruthless focus in how she’s gone about her preparation at Paris,” he said.
“We trying to get hold of James, her partner to get BBC and Sky Sports into their house for the final when he suddenly told us that he’s an hour away from Chateauroux.
“What an absolutely special moment it was when she spotted him in the crowd, and ran over to give them the biggest hug ever.
“That for me was the moment of the Games because I know how much it’s meant to her and her family.”
With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk