{"id":3574,"date":"2020-07-02T07:58:45","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T21:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/in-sight-with-dan-repacholi\/"},"modified":"2024-07-24T15:11:46","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T05:11:46","slug":"in-sight-with-dan-repacholi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/in-sight-with-dan-repacholi\/","title":{"rendered":"In Sight with Dan Repacholi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ustream.tv\/embed\/recorded\/127108184\" style=\"border: 0;\" webkitallowfullscreen allowfullscreen frameborder=\"no\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Forget the tracksuit, I want gold says big Dan<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>By Greg Campbell<\/em><\/p>\n<p>As we entered the new millennium, Dan Repacholi was a precocious, fun-loving 17-year old young buck who was ranked Australia\u2019s number one pistol shooter.<\/p>\n<p>The countdown to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was gathering pace and Repacholi hopped on a plane and headed to World Cup competitions in Milan and Munich trying to shoot a 565 qualification score to win Australian Olympic team selection.<\/p>\n<p>But the pressure of the situation and being in foreign countries saw his Sydney 2000 Olympic dream explode and he was forced to watch David Moore, David Porter and David Chapman in action at the Games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an easy score to achieve,\u201d recalled Repacholi. \u201cI let an opportunity go past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Disappointed, Repacholi returned home and was then delivered a confronting opinion from an unnamed coach which still rings loud in his ears today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was told I wouldn\u2019t make an Olympic Games team, and I pretty much went on to prove them wrong and show that I can do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know why they said it, and I never asked. I don\u2019t know if they were trying a bit of reverse psychology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If it was reverse psychology, it certainly worked as Repacholi will line-up for his fifth Olympic Games in Tokyo next year surpassing four-time Australian pistol Olympians, Lalita Yauhleuskaya and Phillip Adams.<\/p>\n<p>As painful missing selection for Sydney 2000 was for Repacholi, he now admits it was a blessing in disguise as his sporting career ambition would have been done and dusted if selected.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn hindsight, it was the best thing that ever happened because if I made that Olympic Games team, I reckon that it would have been my only Olympics,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite attending four Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio in 2016, Repacholi\u2019s ambitions remains restlessly unfulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a great time. I\u2019ve loved every Olympic Games. Everyone has been different. Unfortunately, I haven\u2019t gone and achieved what I wanted to achieve yet, and that\u2019s coming home with an Olympic Games gold medal. But Tokyo is coming up and I will be giving every bit I can to go there and win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t want to be remembered as a five-time Olympian. I want to be remembered as someone who has gone to an Olympic Games and won a gold medal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number of Games is irrelevant because I haven\u2019t achieved what I want to achieve yet. I\u2019ve got enough tracksuits,\u201d he says forthrightly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not finished. I want to go on and win at an Olympic Games and finish with a score and say, \u2018 that was me, that was a really good score\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>His renewed drive comes after twice retiring from the sport.<\/p>\n<p>After the London Olympics, he and his wife Alex gave birth to their first daughter, Zoe, and he decided to down the pistol.<\/p>\n<p>But in the lead-up to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Alex convinced him to return to the sport and he responded by winning the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol and a bronze in the 50m Air Pistol.<\/p>\n<p>The Rio Olympics came and went, and he then focused on the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n<p>He knew how special a home Games was after winning a gold medal in the 50m Pairs and a bronze in the 10m Pairs in front of family and friends at the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.<\/p>\n<p>But the Gold Coast Games were extra special. Alex, Zoe and his second daughter, Asha, were in the stand watching and, after finishing fourth in the 10m Air Pistol, Repacholi was a decisive winner of the 50m Air Pistol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGold Coast topped it for sure. The best. To do it in front of my wife and two little girls, that was an amazing thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Repacholi retired again after the Gold Coast Games to spend more time with his growing family, but again Alex and his girls stepped in and urged him to aim for Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was one of the best things I did because now my kids can come and see me shoot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-4924 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/r0_0_4948_3442_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"975\" height=\"678\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And he keeps his girls involved when competing. Renown for wearing rainbow coloured socks in competition, his girls now select what socks he is to wear.<\/p>\n<p>Off a limited preparation, he secured a Minimum Quota Score in the 10m Air Pistol at the Oceania Championship last November, and then topped the nomination trials earlier this year to book his ticket for Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not finished until my wife tells me to now,\u201d he says with a grin. \u201cWhen she says that I can\u2019t do it anymore and that I must be a proper husband and a proper father, like most fathers who stay at home and do everything with their kids and wife. When she tells me that, then it\u2019s all over unless I decide I will pull the pin a little earlier and say I\u2019ve had enough. But there\u2019s still a lot I want to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the nomination trials, he was locked into a close contest with Bailey Groves before managing a seven shot victory, but he knows he is capable of much more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t perform to the level that I know I could have, and the level that I was ready to be shooting. It was good enough to get through, but nowhere good enough for what I need to be doing,\u201d he said honestly.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, the six Rio Olympic finalists reached the final with a qualification score of 580 and higher from a possible 600 points. A score of over 580 will be the required target to reach the final in Tokyo. With a personal best score of 587, he knows he is certainly capable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be comfortable, I need to be shooting mid-580s. If I can be shooting that, then I know I will be in the right form and going in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs long as I can shoot around that level in the mid-580s, then I will be in the right area and I will give myself a really good chance to make that final. I\u2019ve got to get in the right mental frame to be able to get that happening on a consistent basis. In finals, I shoot well. I enjoy them. I like the format of a final,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>To prepare for Tokyo, Repacholi has set up a 10m indoor pistol range in a warehouse at Double R Equipment Repairs, where he works, in Rutherford in NSW\u2019s Hunter Valley and trains before and after work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI quite enjoy it to be honest. It\u2019s a good time to be on your own and think.\u00a0 It\u2019s just you, a target and a gun. That\u2019s all there is. There\u2019s nothing else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from firing shots on his range, Repacholi is looking to lose weight, go back to shooting basics and spend considerable time getting himself mentally ready for Tokyo. He says technically he can match it with the best in the world but need to improve between his ears.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy whole shot process takes about 35 seconds from when I start it to when I finish it. So, I\u2019ve only got to concentrate for that 35 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Given his lack of high level preparation leading into the Olympic nomination trials, Repacholi is delighted the Tokyo Games have been postponed by 12 months and believes a combination of selection certainty and long-form training and competition will have the Australian team poised to produce strong results.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s a really good thing for us. I reckon we are going to have some fantastic results because we\u2019re going to have this time to mentally prepare ourselves. Physically, everyone in this shooting team can win. It\u2019s just whether we can control ourselves mentally. That\u2019s what wins it all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Shooting at a top international level spanning more than two decades, Repacholi estimates it has cost him up to $1 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny sport you do at a high level is expensive with all your travel, all your training commitments. From out of pocket expenses, unpaid leave, missing out on work, it wouldn\u2019t be far from it ($1 million),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>But Repacholi wouldn\u2019t change a thing after competing for over two decades on the world stage.<\/p>\n<p>And with his steely focus on the medal dais in Tokyo, it has been a great investment for a gentle bearded giant who was told he\u2019d never make it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Forget the tracksuit, I want gold says big Dan By Greg Campbell As we entered the new millennium, Dan Repacholi was a precocious, fun-loving 17-year old young buck who was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-sight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3574"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3576,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3574\/revisions\/3576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shootingaustralia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}