"When you are shooting well, shoot a lot!" John Writer would offer many words of advice during our training sessions together after making the US Olympic shooting team in 1972. That year Jack, as we called him, would shoot well indeed, taking the gold medal and setting a new world record.
This young businessman from the mid-west would revolutionize the sport of Olympic rifle shooting. Prior to his arrival international shooting stars were the senior citizens of the Olympic world. Normally six to ten years on the national team were required to develop enough experience to medal in the Olympics or World Championship. The average age of Olympics shooters would be near forty. Writer would medal in his first year on the team. The next year, he would feel the weight of the Olympic silver around his neck in Mexico. His first World Championship title would occur in 1970 and his second in 1974. Olympic silver, followed by gold and back-to-back world titles would be achieved before Writer turned 30. Why?
I would find out first hand during the summer of 1972. Writer and I had qualified to represent the USA in Munich and we had just 8 weeks to train for the games. I have always considered myself to be a hard worker. Compared to everyone else around me I shot more shots and spent more time on the range. I did not really plan my training or have much of a thought of what I wanted to accomplish before I began to shoot. Writer did. He was meticulous, disciplined and tough on himself. Every day began with a plan based on proven principles. He would shoot two to three times as many shots as anyone on the range. Quality was never sacrificed.
Writer's plan was to win the Olympics by revolutionizing the way shooters trained. My plan was to do everything Jack did. If he ordered onions on his hamburger, so would I. His attitudes and habits became mine. I cloned him. By the time we reached Munich, I was shooting like him.
It is fortunate and rare to have such an intimate experience. In 1972, Jack Writer was the Tiger Woods of shooting. He won everything, including the Olympic Gold setting a world record in the process. His aura rubbed off on me. I managed a silver medal that year. Later I would have a similar run, back-to-back world titles and Olympic Gold in Montreal. I have no doubt that without Writer it would not have been possible.
Today Jack and I are out of the sport as competitors. We are too old to compete but not too old to remember.
Lanny Bassham 2000
Click here to return to Articles. Click here to go to John Writer page.
