Aiming for Gold

By Kath Gannaway
CRAIG Henwood is determined to add the ultimate medal – the Olympic Gold – to his already impressive collection. His family – dad Jack, mum Moira and sister Kate – will be living every minute with him.
Craig is taking a good friend with him to Beijing – his trusty Perazzi double barrel shotgun.
The Coldstream shooter was set to leave on Monday with the national shooting team to represent Australia in the trap event at the 2008 Olympics.
The road to the Olympic dream has had its challenges for the 29-year-old who followed in the footsteps of his champion shooter father when he joined the Melbourne Gun Club at Lilydale on his 12th birthday.
While Australia has always ranked high on world ratings in shooting and achieved gold, silver and bronze medals at previous Olympics, its star performers don’t share the public profile of the champions of track or pool.
Craig’s aim has always been set on the five-coloured rings.
His swag of medals speaks volumes for his achievements and allows him the right to be so ambitious. He was disappointed in 2006 to miss out on selection for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
For Craig, there were a few sleepless nights back in March when his rating was second to Olympic gold medalist and trap teammate Michael Diamond.
His place in the team was appealed against by the third-placegetter but dismissed.
Craig told the Mail at the time both the uncertainty and missing out on the official team announcement and celebrations were disappointing.
Undeterred, he buckled down for an intensive five months pre-Olympic training regime.
The challenges include fitting a full-time job into a training schedule that has seen him in Beijing in April, Texas in May, Belgrade in June and Darwin earlier this month for a two-week team training camp and an Australia Cup competition.
The support of family, accommodating employers and workmates at Stablelime Road Construction, and fellow gun club members plus his dogged determination and passion for the sport have contributed to what is already an amazing achievement.
The excitement had started to build, Craig told the Mail, before the team set off for the Darwin camp.
“We (the shooting team) did a lap of honour at the rugby on Sunday; it wasn’t until then, with every one cheering you on that it started to sink in,” he said.
Last week, having shot a personal best in Darwin – 122 out of a possible 125 – a score, Jack says would get his son into any World Cup or Olympic final, Craig was quietly optimistic.
“I shot well up there and I’m hoping I can do that again,” he said. The trap team will have its first taste of Olympic competition on Saturday 9 August, the day after the opening ceremony.
Having had the chance to shoot on the Beijing range, Craig says he is looking forward to the experience.
Talk of pollution isn’t something he’s too worried about. First, the sport is more about what’s going on in the mind, than in the lungs, he said and the visibility on the shooting range is good.
“About 80 metres from where we shoot is a nice big green mountain so the orange targets against the green will show up fairly well,” he said.
Back home, the Henwood family is sure to be glued to the television.
Craig says he is keeping a lid on his nerves right now, but adds a bit of nervous edge is not a bad thing for a shooter. “When I get on that plane and look around me at all those other athletes, I expect I’ll get a few butterflies in the tummy then,” he said.