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August 15, 2004 10:43 am

Senior Olympian gets second medal shot

By ELLIOTT DENMAN

Gannett News Service

MARKOPOULO, Greece - This was Elizabeth ``Libby'' Callahan's third shot at Olympic glory, but the 52-year-old veteran, who is the senior member of the entire U.S. Olympic team, still made some rookie mistakes Sunday morning.

And they cost her any chance of advancing to the final round of the women's 10-meter air pistol competition at the Markopoulo Olympic Shooting Centre.

``I started off really bad. I just couldn't get settled. I was probably more nervous than usual,'' said the Columbia, S.C., native, a retired member of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan police force who now lives in Upper Marlboro, Md., and represents the U.S. Army reserve.

She tied for 30th place in the qualifying round with a score of 374 points. A score of 384 was required to reach the final round of eight competitors.

There were 41 competitiors.

The other U.S. entry, Rebecca Snyder of Colorado Springs, Colo., tied for 16th with a 380.

Callahan returns to Olympic competition Wednesday in the 50-meter pistol competition, which she calls ``my better event.''

After a slow start, Callahan started getting it together and was moving up. ``Then I was doing real well, until maybe my last 4-5 shots,'' she said.

``I'm just not pleased with my performance,'' she said, a result of ``tentativeness, apprehension and just not being focused.''

``I was working really hard at it; it just wasn't clicking.

``I wanted to do a whole lot better than that.''

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she placed 37th in the air pistol event. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, she shot the sport pistol event and was 23rd.

``I missed the 2000 Olympic team by just two points, so I really worked extra hard to come back and make this one,'' she said.

A staff sergeant in the Army reserves, she was a captain in the Washington, D.C., police until her retirement a year ago.

Her police colleagues got her into this sport. ``When I joined the department, I learned how to shoot,'' she said. ``The instructors then urged me to start shooting competitively.''

In 1993, she was named America's female shooter of the year. On five separate occasions, she was the national police revolver champion.

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