JOIN USShotgun shooter Kim Rhode will be looking to extend her record as the only US athlete to win medals at five consecutive Olympic Games in an individual sport when she arrives at the Rio Summer Games.
The 37-year-old Californian has a long history in the sport, having fired her first weapon at the age of 10 and won her first World Championships three years later.
If she manages to extend her medal streak, which dates back to the 1996 Atlanta Games and includes three golds, a silver and a bronze, it will mean she's overcome a serious hip injury that resulted from her son Carter's birth three years ago.
"It was difficult to come back," Rhode said. "I struggled very much on walking. I had some nerve damage."
Rhode said she still doesn't have the energy to train as much as she did before the injury. She now shoots about 700 rounds in her typical training session, down from 1,000 per day before her injury.
And while Rhodes is heading to her sixth Olympics she is not even entertaining the thought of when she will call it a career. In fact, Rhodes hopes to have many years ahead of her in sport -- pointing out that the oldest athlete ever to compete in an Olympic Games was Sweden's Oscar Swahn. "Definitely not going to be my last Olympics, win, lose or draw," Rhode said.
She already has a side project in mind for Rio: Adding to her collection of more than 5,000 first-edition children's books, which includes originals of Frank Baum's Oz series, which inspired the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," as well as some of Johnny Gruelle's "Raggedy Ann" books.
"I did end up getting a first-edition Beatrix Potter in London during the Olympics. Who knows what this one will be?" Rhode said. "Maybe there's some book down in Rio that I can't live without."