Five US shooters earn 2016 Paralympic team nominations

“The journey thus far has been an amazing one, and I look forward to continuing on this path and representing this awesome country at the 2016 Paralympic Games!"

Showcasing the depth and growth of USA Shooting’s Paralympic programme, five athletes have been named to the 2016 US Paralympic Team for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Mike Tagliapietra, McKenna Dahl, army marksman John Joss, Jazmin Almlie-Ryan and Tammy Delano will all represent Team USA later this summer as first-time Paralympic selections. All five athletes helped earn the five Paralympic quotas the US obtained during competition in 2014 and 2015. All Paralympic nominations are subject to the approval of the US Olympic Committee (USOC) and US Paralympics.

“Our programme has come a very long way since London [2012] with greater depth, better results and more visibility," said USA Shooting National Paralympic Coach Bob Foth. "The strides we’ve taken are nearly miraculous given the short timeframe and limited resources to work with. These five athletes have all invested so much in this process and it is amazing to be part of this team. I’m tremendously excited about the possibilities going into Rio.

“None of these five athletes were really in contention four years ago and now all have earned direct allocation (quota) places for Team USA. Additionally, all five have done the hard work to earn the right to use those slots themselves and are competitive at the highest levels of the sport. All have made finals and won medals and bring a wide variety of strengths and abilities into their events. The challenges all have overcome in order to be here have given them remarkable resilience and broad perspectives on the sport and life. I couldn’t be more proud of the accomplishments that have led them to this moment and can’t wait to see how they’ll perform in Rio.”

“The thing I am looking forward to the most is representing my country at the Paralympics,” the 44-year-old Delano said. “Very few people get the chance to experience all that I have in my shooting career, and even less get to represent their country at this level. It's still hard to believe that this is happening to me. I am truly honoured to represent the United States of America. The only thing that can make this experience better is bringing home a medal.”

“Words cannot express the tremendous amount of excitement I have as this is something I've been working towards,” said 34-year-old Almlie-Ryan. “Sure, five years ago when I began this journey, I told myself that I'd one day make it to being one of the top shooters in the United States and eventually represent this country at the Paralympic Games. But now that we are here, now in the present, and that dream is becoming reality, I can't express the amount of pride that I have. The journey thus far has been an amazing one, and I look forward to continuing on this path and representing this awesome country at the 2016 Paralympic Games!"

Tagliapietra is the only pistol shooter with the rest competing in rifle. All athletes other than Joss, who is a Sergeant in the US Army, are resident athletes at the US Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs.

NBCUniversal and the USOC will build on its unprecedented coverage of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, with more coverage of the Games than ever before in 2016. The networks will air 66 hours of coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, an increase of 60.5 hours from the coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games, while TeamUSA.org and USParalympics.org will provide comprehensive online coverage.

USA’s Paralympic history in Shooting includes three medals overall. Roger Withrow earned the only gold medal thus far at the Stoke Mandeville/New York 1984 Paralympic Game. West Brownlow also earned a bronze medal that same year in air pistol. Current Alaska Fairbanks head coach Dan Jordan is the last Paralympic medal winner for the US having earned a silver medal in rifle at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.