Dreams Can Come True …

by Rajmond Debevec 

I remember like it was yesterday - as a 5-year-old boy back in 1968, watching Olympic athletics on TV. I was fascinated with Bob Beamon's fantastic 890cm long jump. Three years later my uncle bought me a small air rifle for my 8th birthday. It was the best birthday present I’d ever been given and a new fascination was born. I spent every single moment of my free time with my rifle – the secret of how to hit the middle of the target filled me with irresistible power.

Two months later I joined a local shooting club in my town of Postojna, known around the world for its famous 20km cave system. At that moment I had no idea that my new love of target shooting would soon become my way of life.
I soon found out that shooting had been an Olympic sport since 1896. I started to practice harder and harder while dreaming about taking part in the Olympic Games...

16 years after Bob Beamon's jump and 13 years after receiving my first air rifle my dream came true. Today I can still recall how I felt as I marched around the Los Angeles Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony of my first Olympic Games in 1984 - on the same field as the famous athlete Carl Lewis...

The motto of Baron Pierre de Coubertin's , the founder of the modern Olympic Games was “the most important thing is not to win but to take part”, I used to aspire to this, but it was not enough and I soon exchanged this for ,Citius, Altius, Fortius' which is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger'...

The wish for an Olympic medal doesn't mean that everything is plain sailing. My strong will helped me not to give up after unsuccessful attempts in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Olympics. This lead me to work even harder to succeed. Persistency was always my strongest character mark.

16 years after my first Olympic Games in Los Angeles and 29 years after my first shot with an air rifle I finally made it. On my 5th try at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney I won a gold medal and became an Olympic Champion! But could I get more? I was motivated to practice hard and when after my bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games many shooting friends asked me when I plan to quit, the answer was simple - I didn’t want to give up on this important part of my life.

Only a small number of the world's population ever compete at the Olympic Games; and an even smaller number ever compete in multiple Games. In the history of modern Olympic Games since 1896 in all Olympic sports, only 2 athletes have participated 9 times and 5 athletes have participated 8 times.

Shooting is one of the rare sports which enable an athlete to compete at the top level at almost any age. I am proud to join the respectable group of 7 athletes with at least 8 Olympic appearances and I am proud to be able to participate in my 8th at the London 2012 Olympic Games at 49 years of age, still with a chance to fight for medals.

See you in London.

Rajmond Debevec
http://www.issf-sports.org/shooters/shooter.ashx?personissfid=shslom2903196301