RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - U.S. Army Specialist Dan Lowe, the rookie shooter competing at the Olympics here, performed very well during the Men's Three Position rifle event, at the Deodoro Shooting Complex, Aug 14.
Earlier during the week, he participated in the 10 Meter Air Rifle Men event.
"Like anyone else, I had a lot of nerves, but I kept focusing in the process," said Lowe immediately after the Three Position competition.
During qualification, every competitor had to fire 40 kneeling shots, 40 prone shots and 40 standing shots within a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Lowe scored 392 points on the kneeling position, 394 points on the prone position, and 382 points in the standing position for a total score of 1,168 points.
"It was only six points between being in the finals or not," said Lowe referring the fact that the last shooter that made it to the final scored 1174 points.
"I was feeling pretty good in kneeling. In prone I ended up having a couple of rough strings, and in standing I had to make a couple of adjustments to the rifle. But I believe I did pretty well," added the Army Olympian.
The 23 year-old Soldier from Olympia Washington, who has been in the Army for approximately two years, also reflected about the similarities between serving the nation in uniform and participating at the Olympics.
"There is not a whole lot of difference. It's all about standing out there in front of the world and do what you have to do, and hold yourself to a higher standard."
Lowe also made it clear that his first two experiences in the Olympics will impact the way he trains in the future.
"I will scrap my training plans and start again. There will be a lot more mental training. I will try to recreate this experience as much as possible," he said.
The young Soldier stated he will combine low and high intensity days in his new training plans.
"You have to shoot for almost three hours in an event like this, so you need to be 110 percent physically," he added.
The Soldier also stated that even though at the present time he does not have the specific goal to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, he did say that it is always a possibility.
"Olympics are not guaranteed."
Before exiting the venue of his last 2016 Olympic competition, Lowe confessed that sometimes he was overwhelmed with the whole Olympics experience.
"This is the biggest stage in the world. The whole games have been extremely cool and I have learned a lot," said the newest US Army Olympian.
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