Father Daughter Team in London Olympic Games

One father and daughter from Australia are taking on the Olympics together this coming Games.

When 20-year-old Hayley Chapman competes in her first Olympics, on August 1 in the 25m air pistol, she will have her father David watching closely.

And she will return the favour when he begins his own Olympic competition in the 25m rapid fire pistol the next day.

The Chapmans, who live on a farm about 100km north of Adelaide, are the first father and daughter team competing at the same Olympics for Australia in any sport.

David Chapman competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

A late addition to the Australian team for London, Hayley Chapman says she is pleased to have her father’s support during her first Games. “He’ll be behind me and I’ll definitely be behind him,” she said.

“It will make a lot of difference to have Dad there supporting me.

“I love him sitting behind me in competitions, as I know, if I turn around and look at him, what he is thinking. Just being able to experience the whole thing with Dad is very exciting.”

But she concedes that she is more a prospect for the 2016 Olympics in Rio than a medal chance for London.

“I am here mainly to soak in the experience,” she said. “My main goal is Rio, so this is an amazing opportunity to even be here.”

Hayley was attracted to the sport after travelling with her father to shooting competitions around the country.

“Dad suggested that I did some training and I started to go to some more competitions,” she said. “I did well in the first few competitions that I went in, so when you succeed you want to keep doing it.”

David said he and Hayley were used to travelling to shooting competitions together.

“It is a special occasion having a father and daughter competing together in the same Olympics, but competing together is something we are used to,” David said.

“It is not something that we feel any different about. We are happy we are just having a good time and we able to support each other.

“We can chat about the situation and offer each other support.”

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