COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Kim Rhode is shooting for Olympic history with a nomination to her fifth Olympic Games

USA Shooting is pleased to announce that four-time Olympic medalist Kim Rhode (El Monte, Calif.) has qualified for a nomination to the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team pending approval by the United States Olympic Committee. Upon approval, Rhode will be competing in her fifth consecutive Olympic Games and chasing the record books as the first American Olympian to achieve five medals (in an individual event) in five Olympics. With podium-topping performances the past year, Rhode was the first member of the USA Shooting Team to meet and exceed the point threshold of 45 points for Women's Skeet. Following the 2008 Olympic Games, USA Shooting adopted a point selection procedure for athletes to gain an Olympic nomination. Points are awarded based on competition performance at International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cups and World Championships.

In 2010, Rhode started the ISSF World Cup season with a bang by winning a gold medal in Acapulco. She repeated her performance in Beijing where she equaled her own world record of 98 out of 100 targets. Rhode then placed fourth at the ISSF World Cup in Lonato, Italy, earning three additional points. Yet, the greatest feat of her 2010 season came at the ISSF World Championships in Munich, Germany. Rhode nailed 97 out of 100 targets for the gold medal and title of World Champion for the first time in her career. She started the 2011 season with a fifth place finish at the 2011 ISSF World Cup Chile and sealed the deal with a gold medal performance at the ISSF Sydney World Cup on March 30. Rhode has now reached a point total that cannot be surpassed by other U.S. athletes based on remaining competitions with available Olympic qualification points. Though it didn't add to her point total, Rhode was also USA Shooting's Athlete of the Year for the third year in a row. "It is such an honor to be nominated for my fifth Olympic team and to have the opportunity to bring home a fifth medal for the United States. None of this would be possible without the support of all my sponsors like Winchester and all the family and supporters at home who have helped support me in this endeavor," said Rhode.

With a shooting career that began in her early years, Rhode won her first Olympic medal-gold-in Atlanta in 1996 in Women's Double Trap as a 17-year-old. Four years later, she won the bronze in Sydney, and then the gold in Athens in 2004. Since Women's Double Trap was removed from the Olympic program after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Rhode now competes in Women's Skeet. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Rhode continued her winning streak with a silver medal. USA Shooting would like to congratulate Kim Rhode on an excellent start to 2011 and qualifying for a nomination to the 2012 Olympic Team. To learn more about Olympic shooting and Kim Rhode, please visit the USA Shooting website.

Winchester Ammunition is a Proud Sponsor of the USA Shooting Shotgun Team: Winchester® Ammunition has been the exclusive ammunition sponsor and supplier of the USAShooting Shotgun Team since 1999. Members of the 2008 shotgun team brought home four medals from Beijing using Winchester AA International Target loads. Winchester is an industry leader in advancing and supporting conservation, hunter education and our country's proud shooting sports heritage. For more information about Winchester and its complete line of products, visi www.winchester.com.

About USA Shooting:
USA Shooting, a 501c3 non-profit corporation, was chartered by the United States Olympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of shooting in April 1995. USA Shooting's mission is to prepare American athletes to win Olympic medals, promote the shooting sports throughout the U.S. and govern the conduct of international shooting in the country. Check us out on the web a www.usashooting.org and Facebook.