Pan Am Gold Brandie Neal

The U.S. Delegation Newsletter of the 2003 Pan American Games published the daily success of each event in the “USA Daily” which is a small handout for the USA Athletes. This paper contained a schedule of events for Team USA as well as a list of the day’s winners by category.

 

Here is an excerpt taken from the Aug. 8, 2003 Daily under the heading Shooting: Brandie Neal (Spencer, IN) made it five straight gold medals for the U.S. Shotgun Team with a victory in the Women’s Skeet event Thursday afternoon. Neal recorded 71 of 75 points in the preliminary competition to advance to the final round as the No. 1 seed with a slim one point lead over Canada’s Linda Conley and Argentina’s Melisa Gil. After a 10-minute rain postponement, the three ladies began the final round competition. And Neal, not loosing focus, stepped into station eight needing only one target to clinch the gold medal. She hit both and captured her first Pan American gold medal.

 

Being an Olympic contender is not easy.  It applies various pressures to an athlete which they must adapt and overcome to perform to the best of their ability: Adjustments to jet lag, time changes, altitude, climate, unfamiliar territory, and toss in, on top of that, the necessity of meeting time schedules of individual competition events, all while maintaining the mind set to perform to the best of their abilities.

 

Take a look at the lead up for the Pan American Games in 2003.  Individual athletes travel from their home to meet up with the Pan American Contingent at Tampa International Airport. Here they received instructions along with the Pan Am gear, which includes Jackets, Pants, etc, so that all USA Team Athletes would be dressed alike, as a team, then together they all boarded the plane for the flight to Santo Domingo. Upon arrival they boarded busses for a police escort to the Pan American Village where all competing athletes from each country resided during the games. The newly constructed Village provided full accommodations inside a fenced parameter that seemed to go on forever.  In order to get around, one could catch a ride on a vehicle pulling wheeled carts much like the ones at the state fair.  This village provided everything an athlete would need during their stay in Santo Domingo, for it was highly recommended that the athletes not leave the village unless they were going to a specific Pan Am event.  Yet, even with all of this, there were still precautions to be taken.  Santo Domingo security was everywhere, they provided security for USA Athletes to and from the competition events with armed guards.  To put a prospective on security, Brandie uses the USA vs. Santo Domingo Baseball event as an example. “We Athletes who were free of our own competition events elected to go watch a baseball game where the US would be going against the home team. With a Police escort, upon arrival by bus, security directed us thru a tunnel to the USA dugout and then up into the stands behind the dugout where we sat in an allocated area. We were proud to watch the USA Team do so well. But our viewing pleasure was abruptly ended when security felt it was best if we returned to the village for our own safety before the game was over. Again we were directed back thru the tunnel from where we came and bussed back to the village.”

 

Athlete pressure? You have not heard anything yet, picture this, Brandie (mind set on competing against the best of the best) arrives at the skeet range under tight security, to discover that the firearms where not in the designated building after arrival from the airport customs. As time passed, many phone calls made, and an extensive search of other buildings, the firearms were finally located three days later.

Brandie has been there, her dedication, self determination, positive attitude and ability to adapt and overcome proved to be her success in the 2003 Pan American Games when she brought the Gold home.