Picture: Luke Fuda
THE dual Olympian Suzy Balogh, the top trap-shooter — who trains at the Sydney International Shooting Centre at Cecil Park — is preparing for World Cup events and a World Championship later this year.
Years of training, competitions, two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games and a lifetime commitment to the sport hasn't diminished her enthusiasm.
"Last year I took 150 flights — international and domestic," she said.
Balogh, 39, is a member of the Cecil Park Clay Target Club. She won the women's trap event at the 2004 Athens Games, the first Australian woman to triumph at Olympic level. She finished sixth in the trap event at the 2012 London Games.
"I'm still driven and get an adrenalin rush competing," said Balogh, of Abbotsbury. "The main thing is I still enjoy competition and what I do."
And there is a chance she could make a bid for a third Olympics in 2016 at Rio in Brazil.
"Never say never in life but Rio is a while off yet. I'm taking it a year at a time," she said.
She said marching into the main arena with the Australian team for the opening ceremony at the London Games was "electrifying".
She just returned from another national title win in Brisbane.
She is still rated the No.1 women's trap-shooter in Australia and the Commonwealth. She has represented at two Commonwealth Games, Manchester in 2002 and Melbourne in 2006.
She said doing well in competition this year would have her at the top of Australian team selection for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, to be held from July 23 to August 3.
Between training and competition, she runs her own business, Hitting Targets, running trap-shooting sessions for corporate groups and individuals at the Sydney International Shooting Centre.